Desert Rose
by The Doormaster
Summary: What happens when you take a child whose broken beyond repair and send him somewhere he just might be able to heal? Gaara has nothing to live for but himself, no one to love but himself. Watch him find something more. T for violence, language, and suggestive themes.
1. Chapter 1

**So I recently went back to the early episodes of Naruto and quickly remembered how much I fuckin love Gaara. I remember when I was a kid I got scared watching him kill those rain ninja in the forest of death, I was a huge pussy as a kid lol. Now I went back and rewatched some of the shit he did and I decided that he deserves more attention then he get in this site. Let's do this.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or RWBY or any of the characters in either, nor do I make any kind of money off of this story. All credit goes to the respective owners.**

"This isn't real, this can't be real! It's a dream! IT'S A DREAM!" Gaara screamed as sand rose all around him to protect him from the bombs on Yashamaru's chest. The blast sent a large cloud of dust into the sky, Gaara however remained still and in shock. "Yashamaru... AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" His scream morphed into a demonic howl as the ichibi began taking control.

Massive amounts of sand rose and took the form of the legendary sand demon, however this time was different, the howling laughter the demon usually made when breaking free never came. The fourth Kazekage narrowed his eyes as he prepared to put an end to the rampage that was soon to happen, his gold dust already moving.

"IT'S A DREAM!" The massive beast scream so loud the buildings around him shook and cracked from the volume.

"Gaara?!" The kazekage asked himself in surprise, was Gaara still in control?

Some how the beast seemed to hear his voice and his eyes turned to the boys father, absolute hatred filled his gaze, the killing intent was enough to cause even the Kazekage himself to begin to sweat.

 _"Yur doin great kid, now just kill that bastard who did this to us!"_ Shukaku cackled inside the traumatized red heads mind. Gaara opened his mouth wide and began charging his chakra, he was acting on pure instinct and hate at this point. _"A tailed beast bomb, great choice!"_

The kazekage's eye widen at the sight of the massive amount of chakra forming in front of the beast, he'd never seen this attack before. Any attack with the beast's sand he could easily counter but this was something else entirely, the amount of condensed chakra in that ball could destroy the entire village if it detonated. "GAARA NO, DON'T RELEASE THAT ATTACK!" He shouted uselessly at his son all while the ball continued to grow.

 _"YUR PUTTING TO MUCH CHAKRA INTO THE BOMB, STOP! ANYMORE AND YOU'LL DRAIN ME COMPLETELY AND KILL US BOTH!"_ The beast shrieked from inside the boys head, if Gaara continued putting more and more energy into the bomb it would indeed kill them both, and while that would set him free it would still take years to reform.

"GAARA STOP!" It was to late, the orb of chakra the size of the beast itself was launched at the fourth kazekage who desperately raised a shield of gold dust in his defense. The shield was broken the instant the bomb made contact.

The blast cover twenty miles and created a shock wave that could be felt all the way in konoha. It was on that night that the village hidden in the sand was completely wiped from the map and replaced with a smooth glass floor. The surviving sand ninja who had been away during the blast would go on to join other villages or become missing nin. None knew exactly what happened that night but investigations from every other large ninja village who looked into the destruction of one of the five great villages found one odd phenomenon. The fabric of reality seemed to weaken at the center of the crater, physics could very slightly but noticeably be bent there, the cause of this would never be known.

 **Remnant**

Pain, so much pain, it was a new concept to him. "I don't want this." He whispered from his place on the ground, blood leaked from small cuts across his body and tears fell from his eyes. He didn't sob, it caused to much pain to move and sobbing only made it worse.

It was impossible to tell how long he laid there in the dirt, his body refused to move even slightly so he didn't even know what his surroundings looked like. He did know however that he was cold, very cold, a strange white substance surrounded him. It fell from the sky and was slowly piling up on top of him, it was extremely cold.

After the sky went from being bright to dark and bright again Gaara knew he had to move or he would die, he couldn't feel his hands or feet and his skin hurt. It took everything he had to begin crawling, the cuts on his body reopened from the movement. He spent hours crawling but it was incredibly slow progress.

The sky began to grow dark again when his hand touched something hard under the cold powder like substance. In an odd moment of curiosity Gaara pushed some of the white stuff off the object, it took a few minutes but soon he found it to be a rectangular rock. Engraved in the face of the rock was a large flower and under that was a message _'Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter'_ Gaara read slowly. He wasn't a very strong reader but Yashamaru had taught him what he could.

Gaara didn't know what the message meant but for some reason it made him feel warm, warm in the way he felt when his uncle would tell him he did well. His tears began falling again as he laid his head down on the stone and for the first time in his memory he fell asleep, never noticing the woman with silver eyes kneeling over him, white cloak fluttering in the wind.

 **Later**

Qrow drank from his flask as he trudged through the snow, the cold wind pelted him but he ignored it, he was going to see the person he missed the most in this world. It had only been a little over four years since Summer's death and it cut him to the bone to think about, every time he saw Ruby's face he wanted to break down, instead he drank, a lot. As he walked he'd noticed a larger than normal amount of grimm in the area, he didn't think much of it as he would simply cut them down as they came. Grimm never got very large on Patch so it was mostly small frys.

It wasn't until he was a few dozen feet away from the grave that he saw anything, it took several seconds to realize what was lying on top of the grave, but once he did he began sprinting. A child was sleeping on the grave, one with bloodstained clothes that weren't at all appropriate for this weather. "What the shit kid?!" He dropped down to his knees and picked the kid up, his eyes widened. "He's ice cold." Quickly pulling his cape off he wrapped the barely breathing boy in it and began sprinting in the direction he'd come from.

Qrow ran for nearly ten minutes straight before he could see his destination ahead, running to the front door he began banging on it. It was nearly midnight so he doubted anybody was up so he knew he'd need to either wake them up or bust the door down. Banging his fist against the door again Qrow could hear shouting from the other side and soon the door was swung open by an irate looking blonde. "WHA-" He didn't get to finish as Qrow push passed him and entered the house. "Qrow, what are you doing?!" Tai shouted at his friend who ran over to the fireplace and place his cape which had something in it to the side.

Throwing several logs he had set aside into a pile the drunk huntsmen pulled a bullet from his pocket and quickly cracked it open pouring a small amount of red dust into his palm. "Go get me some blankets and some of Yang's clothes now!" He shouted without looking at the blonde, the man did as he was told while the drunk went about creating the fire.

After a few minutes Tai came back to find a half naked red headed boy wrapped in Qrow cape laid out in front of the now roaring fire place. "What the hell!?"

Tai knelt down next to the boy and found his skin was freezing cold, quickly he dressed the boy in some of Yang's pajamas and then wrapped him in the blankets he'd brought. "Daddy, what going on?" A small voice came from nearby. A worried Yang and sleepy Ruby stood in the doorway looking at him.

"Nothing angel, take Ruby and go back to bed." After a few seconds Yang nodded and began leading her little sister back to their room, he made sure to keep himself between them and the boy so they wouldn't see him. Once the two were gone the blonde looked to the exhausted looking Qrow. "Qrow, what the hell is going on?" He demanded quietly as to not disturb the girls.

Qrow wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Hell if I know, I was just going to visit Summer's grave. When I got there I found this kid sleeping on the head stone nearly frozen solid, so I wrapped him in my cape and rushed here."

Tai looked at the kid with wide eyes. "Summer's grave is at least three miles from anywhere, how did this kid find his way all out there? And where these?" He asked looking over the boys clothes that laid in a small pile, all soaked through.

"He's got several cuts on him to, though right now none are open." As he said this the wind outside began picking up. "I would've made a beeline for the clinic in town but you know how much longer a run that would have been, and looking at this weather I wouldn't be surprised if we had a blizzard on our hands."

Tai stood from the boys side, he was bundled up in several layers of blankets and next to the fireplace. Tai walked over a sat down next to Qrow on his couch and held out his hand to his teammate and friend, Qrow handed him his flask and let the blonde take a swig. "You made the right choice." Tai sounded just as exhausted as Qrow. "With this weather he'd have probably died if left out there much longer. We'll take him to the clinic in the morning."

Qrow nodded as he stared a the fire in the fire place. "She always did love helping people." Qrow finally spoke after several minutes of silence, he noticed the confused look from Tai. "Summer, she never could turn away someone in need. Even after death she's helping people." His eyes went to the boy who'd definitely be dead if he'd been anywhere else but the woman's grave.

Tai could only nod at the words with a small smile forming on his face.

 **One week later**

Gaara cracked his eyes open and found himself lying in a bed underneath several thick blankets, he forced himself to sit up and look around. His body still ached and felt heavy but it was nothing like before. "Where am I?" He asked himself as he looked around at the small room. "Uncle Yasha-" He stopped his call for his uncle abruptly and his eyes went wide.

In an instant he remembered everything, Yashamaru was dead, he tried to kill him. He said his mother... "AAAAAH" Gaara began screaming as he held his head, everything was wrong, it didn't make sense, none of it. He was so distracted with his mental break down he didn't notice the door to his room burst open and a blonde man run in.

"What the hell?!" Tai shouted as he ran over to the boy who was now freaking out. "Hey, calm down!" He went to place a hand on the boys shoulder but just before he made contact Gaara swung his arm towards Tai, Tai ignored the swing until it made contact and forced him several feet back and dealt a good bit of damage to his aura. To his shock a red aura began bubbling up around the boy, tears fell from his eyes the entire time. "Qrow!" Tai shouted as the boy began getting to his feet on top of the bed.

In an instant the drunk huntsmen was in the room with his blade drawn, surprise written across his face as he saw the boy glaring at them with more malice and pain then any grimm he'd ever seen before. "Tai, what's going on?!"

Before the blonde could reply however Gaara charge in a burst of speed any hunter would envy, both men managed to get out of the way however allowing Gaara to slam into the wall destroying it. Holding up the flat of his blade to guard Qrow prepared to block the next charge which came quickly, to his surprised the boy managed to completely overpower him and the two went flying out a nearby window out into the cold snow covered backyard. "KID RELAX!"

His scream fell on deaf ears however as Gaara charged again, Qrow was easily able to side step this time. At first they'd been in an enclosed space and the boy had taken him by surprise, now they were outside and he was ready. Gaara made a series of wild swings at the huntsmen sending powerful gusts of wind with each and all with great speed, but Qrow was a veteran huntsmen with decades of combat experience, all the this kids attacks were wild and lacked any kind of technique, this told him several thinks. Despite this massive strength he seemed to have he was still only a child with know type of training or experience, he was likely just working on instinct alone and didn't know how to use this power. This gave Qrow a massive advantage but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous, if he managed to get a couple good hits in it could be trouble.

"Uncle Qrow?" A tiny voice call from nearby catching his attention, in that moment Gaara managed to land a solid punch to the mans gut causing him to double over. Gaara sent several more wild punches into the hunched over man sending him flying several yards away until he slammed into a tree cracking it. "UNCLE QROW." A small girl with black and red hair ran over to the now downed huntsmen as Gaara stood panting, then he felt something cold hit his head and turned to see another blonde, this one was a girl with pigtails wearing a thick coat. She picked up some snow and threw it at Gaara.

"STOP HURTING UNCLE QROW!" She screamed at him.

"Yang stop!" Tai finally joined the fray once again putting himself in between Yang and the boy.

"Tai, let me handle this." Qrow called to his friend as he used his blade and Ruby to get to his feet. "Ruby stay behind me." He whispered to the little girl as he slowly began walking towards the red haired boy, his eyes were still brimming with tears and fear. Dropping his blade into the snow he held up his hands. "Kid, I'm not gonna hurt you, nobody is gonna hurt you." He spoke softly.

"Liar! Father tried to kill me, Uncle Yashamaru tried to kill me. You want to kill me to!" He screamed back at Qrow causing more of the red energy to begin forming behind him in what almost looked like a tail.

Both Qrow and Tai frowned at the boys words, this was gonna be more difficult than they thought. "Your father and Uncle tried to hurt you?" Qrow asked making sure his voice was calm. If this kid was telling the truth then this was far more complicated, a child his age would probably be traumatize by such a thing. A scared, confused, and traumatized child with this kind of power was incredibly dangerous. "What's your name kid?"

The boy didn't answer as he held his arms in front of him in case someone attacked, almost like a sorry excuse for a combat stance. "G-Gaara."

"Gaara, my name is Qrow." Qrow pointed to himself. "That's my friend Tai." This time he point to Tai who forced a smile, he managed to piece together the same thing Qrow did. "The girl behind him is my niece Yang, and this is my other niece Ruby." He slowly gestured to the two girls who looked scared. "Me and Tai are both Huntsmen, we fight grimm to protect people. We want to help people, we won't hurt you."

"Huntsmen?" Gaara asked quietly. "What's that?"

"Huntsmen and huntresses are the heros of the world!" The little girl behind Qrow spoke up seeming to forget her fear and run over to the red haired boy causing both adults to stiffen and prepare to jump in if he made a move against the girl. "They fight monsters and protect people with big super cool weapons! Their so awesome, when I grow up I'm gonna be one just like my mom and dad and Uncle Qrow!" She rambled causing the boy to take a step back in response to her running up to him but he didn't make any other moves. Ruby smiled at the boy before noticing something. "You're crying, are you okay?"

Gaara didn't know how to respond to this, he'd never had to deal with anyone like the girl in front of him. "I'm scared." He whispered as tears continued to fall.

While all this was happening the two huntsmen notice the red aura around him diminishing. "Why are you scared?"

Gaara continued to cry as he answered. "Everyone hates me, they want to kill me. Uncle Yashamaru said mother hated me to, because I killed her when I was born." He spoke quietly but loud enough for the four to hear, Tai and Qrow shared a glance that communicated that they were on the same page. This kid need help.

"My mom died when I was little to, but I know she loved me. Your Uncle was a liar if he said that, daddy told me that mommy's always love their babies. No matter what they do mommy's will never stop loving us." Her words struck Gaara to the core.

He stood there shivering in the snow with tears falling from his face. "Really?" He asked almost desperately.

"Yup." By this point the red aura had completely disappeared.

After several more seconds Gaara smiled very slightly. "Mother loves me?" He asked himself between hiccups, then suddenly he fell to the ground unconscious.

 **So thats the first chapter. Now to all of you about to go off about Gaara not having a chakra cloak, I legitimately believe he does but the signature red chakra is instead fused into the sand that covers his body during his transformation. In a situation where he does not have access to any sand I believe the chakra would simply form into the generic chakra cloak we are all familiar with. This is my theory and I'm sticking to it. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just as I expected, everybody loves Gaara. I'll do my best not to fuck this up for anyone. Let's do this.**

"So how is he?" Ozpin asked Qrow over the video call.

Qrow took several slightly pained breaths. "Better than my ribs that's for sure, the kid really packs a punch. With only a couple hits he broke through my aura and cracked two ribs. All of his physical wounds have healed up, even the frostbite on his hands and toes. Even for aura users it take a while to heal from stage two frostbite, the kid isn't normal." Qrow explained to his boss who nodded.

"And what about his mental status." Ozpin continued.

Qrow grabbed a flask from off screen and took a swig. "That is a different story all together." Qrow sighed. "The kid's a mess Oz, he flinches every time someone older that ten gets near him. He constantly looks depressed, he doesn't talk much, doesn't eat much, and to top it all off he's a serious insomniac. On a good night he'll sleep maybe two or three hours, otherwise he doesn't sleep at all. This leads to an even less stable personality than he already has. The only good think I can see so far is that he's become friends with Ruby and Yang, especially Ruby."

"I see, if what this boy told you is true then he's definitely been through quite a bit of difficulty in his short life. Have you decided whether or not you're gonna continue watching over him or will you turn him over to child services?" Ozpin asked the drunk huntsmen already aware of the answer.

"You and I both know how the system treats kids with their aura's unlocked. They're seen as walking time bombs waiting to explode, taught not to use their auras rather than how to control it. Given this kids strength and level of stability, I'd give it a month before he snaps." Qrow took another swig from his flask emptying it. "Me and Tai talked it over for a while and we thinks it'd be better if we kept an eye on him, teach him how to control his aura. If something goes wrong then we're both huntsmen, we can take care of ourselves."

"And the girls?" Ozpin asked.

"Like I said, he's really taken a liking to them. I doubt he'd ever try and hurt them."

 **Two months later**

Tai sighed as he walked into the elementary school, he'd been in the middle of teaching a class at Signal when he'd received a call from the girls school. They'd said it was urgent and that he needed to drop by as soon as possible. Upon entering the front office he was quickly wave to the principles office where he found Gaara sitting nervously in a chair, in his arms was an old stuff bear he'd taken to carrying around after Ruby gave it to him, across from an equally nervous looking principle. "Gaara you okay?" Tai asked the boy he'd taken into his home.

"He's fine Mr. Xiao Long, I called you here because young Gaara was in a bit of an... altercation with another student." Tai became concerned, he'd seen what an upset Gaara was capable of doing to Qrow who was a grown huntsmen, he didn't want to think about what the boy could do to another child. It was something the two men had been terrified of happening around the girls.

"Was anybody hurt?" Tai asked quickly fearing the answer.

"Nothing worse than a twisted ankle and a chipped tooth luckily." Hearing this was a great relief to the blonde. "However it's how this happened that concerns us greatly." The principle regained the huntsmen's attention. "When you enrolled Gaara here into this school you made us aware that he had special... capabilities as well as certain emotional issues. You however neglected to mention his ability to manipulate object with his mind, now I don't know a great deal about aura as I'm not a huntsmen but I do know that abilities like these are considered illegal to use against those without aura unless in self defense. So you see the problem."

Tai was surprised at this. "I'm sorry, but what exactly happened?" Tai needed to hear the whole story.

"Today at recess Gaara and Ruby were playing in the sand box, then one of their classmates, Joey Maroon, began making fun of little Ruby's eye color and kicked sand into her face. She started to cry and the boy turned to run away only to trip and hit his face on the wood edges of the box. We didn't think much of it until we noticed a light bruise around Joey's ankle." Tai nodded along as he listened, the principle held up his scroll to a small tv on the wall and pressed several buttons bringing up an image of the playground. "On a whim I pulled of the security camera footage and decided to watch the exchange."

Pressing play the two adults watched as the boy kicked sand into Ruby's face and laugh as she started crying while rubbing her eyes, then when the boy turned to run away the principal paused it and zoomed in on the scene. "Now watch both Gaara and Joey's left foot closely." At this point Gaara had taken to completely turning away from the conversation. When the video continued they could see Gaara raise his hand in the direction of the boy and a small amount of sand wrap around the boys ankle tripping him. "I'm sure you can understand why this causes concern for the safety of those around him and himself."

Tai let out a tired breath. "I understand Principle Brown and I can assure you that this will not happen again. I also apologize but I hadn't been aware the Gaara had already found his semblance. I was planning to begin teaching him to control his aura soon but I see that I'll have to do that even sooner than I thought."

"That's good to hear. Now as I know about how hard Gaara has had it up until now I have decided to keep this information to myself and have informed Joey's parents that the boy simply tripped. This is a mercy I can't give out multiple times." The principal stood and held out his hand for Tai to shake.

"Thank you for this, I promise I'll have a long talk with Gaara about this." Tai took the hand and gave it a firm shake. "Come on Gaara, I'll take you home a bit early today."

 **Several minutes later**

Gaara followed behind Tai as the two walked down the path to the Xiao Long house, along the way Tai had called up Qrow and asked him to pick up Ruby and Yang from school. Gaara was scared to say the least, back home everyone had been scared of his powers over sand, they even tried to hurt him. Was that what Taiyang wanted to do?

"Wait here for a minute Gaara, I need to get a couple things." Tai told the redhead as he made his way to the shed next to the house.

Gaara stood waiting for several minute until Tai walked out holding two long sticks with strings attached to wheels of some kind near the base. In his other hand was a small box. "Come on, I got the perfect place for us to go." Tai smiled at the confused Gaara.

The two walked in silence for another thirty minutes before they reached a large cove that over looked the sea, Tai fiddled with the strings on the two sticks for a couple minutes, impaling worms on to small hooks before throwing them into the water while holding onto the sticks. Handing one to Gaara, Tai sat down. "What is this?" Gaara asked quietly looking at the stick.

Tai raised an eyebrow. "You mean the fishing pole? You've never been fishing before?" Tai sounded slightly surprised. Gaara shook his head. "Well basically we're just trying to catch some fish for dinner, I'll teach you as we go." Tai patted the boys shoulder before they fell into a long silence.

After several more minutes Tai spoke up. "You know, after Summer passed away, I was worried. I had know clue how to raise two girls on my own, sure Qrow helps but he doesn't know anything more about raising girls than I do. Girls are so complex with their emotions, boy however, we're simple." Tai reeled in his line and gave it another cast, this time further out. "When I was younger and I needed to learn something or was having a hard time my dad would take me fishing and talk to me. While I might not be your dad, I was hoping it could work just as well."

Gaara was quiet again. "I made sure not to kill him." Gaara whispered.

Tai was taken slightly aback. "I know Gaara, you're a nice boy. I know you'd never purposely try to hurt someone. Finding your semblance at such a young age is amazing, but also dangerous, that's why me an Qrow are gonna have to start teaching you how to control it. If you don't mind me asking, when did you find out you could move things with your mind?"

"Sand." He replied quietly.

"Huh?"

"I can move sand. Since I was a baby I could, it will move on it's own to protect me." Gaara spoke softly enough that Tai had to pay close attention to hear. "It hurts people, the voice makes it hurt them, but the voice is gone now."

"Who is the voice Gaara?" Tai asked gently.

"I don't know." Tears began welling up in the boys eyes telling Tai this was a difficult subject. "He would yell at me, keep me awake at night. He said he'd get out if I fell asleep and would kill people, he's why father tried to kill me."

Tai frowned deeply. "Did the voice ever get out?" He asked curiously.

Gaara nodded now with tears falling freely. "He killed a lot of people with the sand, but it wasn't me. Everyone blamed me but I didn't." The young boy shook lightly as tears continued to fall.

"But you said the voice was gone." Tai spoke up earning a nod.

"I haven't heard him since I woke up in the snow." Gaara replied.

Tai nodded with slight relief, he didn't know what could cause the boy to hear a voice like that, possibly some kind of mental illness. Definitely something to look into later, the boy was already seeing the school councilor twice a week, though maybe he should look into finding a therapist. "So he didn't tell you to hurt that boy at recess?" Tai continued pushing those thoughts back until later, Gaara shook his head. "So why did you do it?"

Gaara was quiet again as he used his sleeve to wipe his eyes. "He made Ruby cry."

Tai's eyes widened a bit before softening, a smile forming on his face. "You care about Ruby a lot don't you Gaara, you're always with her these days."

Gaara nodded. "I've never had a friend before. I want to help her." Gaara stared at the water before them.

Tai smiled before ruffling the boys hair.

 **Seven years later**

Gaara stood at the center of the combat arena with his arms crossed and a board expression across his face. He wore a black shirt and matching black pants. A white cloth sash was tied from one shoulder to his hip along side a thick brown leather strap that held a massive tan colored gourd to his back. **(Original outfit Gaara)** Standing around him were four panting students all holding weapons pointed at him, among them was an angry looking Yang with red eyes.

"Is that all?" Gaara asked looking at the blonde girl sounding every bit as board as he looked.

"NOT A CHANCE!" Yang shouted before using her gauntlets to dash towards the younger boy. Cocking her arm backwards she threw a powerful punch towards him only to be met with a wall of sand which also stopped the shotgun pellets she'd fired. The remaining three students all followed suit and began attacking from all directions.

"I'm tired of this." Gaara shook his head, the group had been trying and failing to land a hit on him for nearly five straight minute. Throwing out his arms Gaara grabbed the four with arms of sand that quickly encased their bodies. "Sand coffin." He muttered to himself. "Minor Sand Burial." He spoke again clenching his fists. The sand around the four began compressing, all the while Gaara watched their aura bars on the large screen on the wall. The bars were each dropping rapidly from the pressure they were experiencing. Once their bars entered the red he reopened his hands and allowed the sand to fall away from the four leaving them unharmed and breathing heavily.

"Good job Gaara, looks like you'll be holding onto your undefeated title for another month." Tai called out from the edge of the ring.

"Yeah Gaara! Way to represent class one oh four!" Ruby shouted from her spot at the edge of the arena alongside several other of their classmates.

Tai chuckled as Gaara walked over to where his youngest daughter stood. "And like always, since you class won the monthly tournament your class representative gets to decide what we have for lunch on Fridays for the next month."

"And that means COOKIES!" Ruby Ruby continued bouncing as Gaara stepped off the arena next to her, he raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Oh and uh, sunagimo." Gaara smirked and nodded at her remembering his favorite food.

"Ah come on! We've had that every month this year!" Yang shouted from the ring. "It's not fair that they keep choosing someone we can't touch to fight!"

Tai nodded. "Yes, but that's why we allowed your class to send four to fight Gaara instead of just one." He couldn't stop the smile on his face at his eldest's outrage.

"Maybe you could hit me if you focused more on your fighting than your hair Yang." Gaara sent the blonde a grin knowing he'd hit a nerve as said hair lit up in flames and her hair turned red. Gaara wasn't the type to usually enjoy antagonizing people but he occasionally made exceptions for certain people such as Yang and Qrow. His new family had been good to him over the years, far better than his real family ever was. Tai had taken the position as a father to him quickly even if he still didn't feel comfortable calling him such instead referring to him as Uncle Tai, Qrow was a similar case though to a lesser extent as Tai. He knew Qrow didn't trust him, the man was nice enough, but Gaara had noticed on multiple occasions the drunk would spy on him. Often in his crow form that he wasn't aware Gaara knew about. He'd found out the man could transform one night when Qrow got more drunk than usual and forgot that Gaara often didn't sleep and changed forms while Gaara was looking out the window.

Yang and Ruby had quickly become his best friends, Ruby especially. They were his family now and he was happy.

At one point he'd been confused about how he ended up on Patch when he'd been in Suna, be now that he was older and more mature he understood. When he first realized he wasn't on his world anymore it had been difficult for him to swallow, but as he got older and more mature things began falling into place and everything began making more and more sense to him. The moon was shatter, the maps were different, technology was more advanced, people didn't know about ninjas, but the biggest difference that sealed everything for him was his chakra. At age six he knew as much about chakra as most other kids his age, maybe slightly more, but he knew what it was and that ninja used it to perform jutsu. It wasn't hard to figure out how different it was from the aura that everybody here had.

After enough time however he came to terms that this wasn't his world and that he didn't care. As far as he was concerned this world was better, this world had his family, nobody hated him here. This world was where he belonged, by Ruby and Yang and Uncles Tai side was where he belonged, it was his home, and he'd do anything to protect it.

And if someone were to try and take any of it from him he'd make them pay dearly.

 **So I had a hard fucking time writing this chapter, I wrote and rewrote multiple parts multiple times but in the end I managed to spit out something that I don't hate. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy late Halloween fuckers, here's your treat. Let's do this.**

Gaara sat silently in a small clearing in the forest several miles from the Xiao Long house, his eyes were closed as he focused on his chakra. He'd taken to training on his own when he was ten to try and learn how to use his chakra correctly. With no other chakra users around to assist him in learning he was forced to learn entirely by himself through a method of trial and error. He'd found it much easier to control massive amounts of sand than it was to simply stick to the side of a tree, tree climbing had taken him several months to master and Water walking was something he had only recently gotten the hang of. He'd chalked this up to the fact that he had an undoubtedly large amount of chakra when compared to the average shinobi back home.

Thinking back to his home he couldn't help but feel a good amount of guilt. It had taken time and still couldn't remember more than flashes of images but he knew that he's likely destroyed or greatly damaged the village with his final attack on his father. It had probably killed quite a few innocent people, but at least it killed that bastard he called his father. He'd never known what a father was suppose to act like, how they were suppose to treat their children, then he met Tai and watched how he treated Ruby and Yang. There was so much love there that was never present with his own father, he hated his father for everything he'd done to him, for treating him like a monster when it was he who made him that way.

Gaara grit his teeth as his anger at his father grew more intense, normally he'd attempt to reign in his emotions, but this was a part of his training. After several minutes Gaara could hear low growling coming from nearby, he waited as the pack of grim began surrounding him all while never moving or opening his eyes. He wasn't at all worried, even if they were all to attack simultaneously he knew his sand would protect him, instead he continued to focus on the sand underground that he'd been grinding up for the past hour.

Finally opening his eyes he looked at the beowulfs circling him. "Seventeen, disappointing." Bringing his hands together in a manner similar to praying he began building his chakra. "Sand Whirlpool!" He finally shouted as the monsters began their charge. The ground beneath them slowly began moving and rotating, gradually getting faster and faster. While this happened the beasts found themselves sinking into the quick sand like ground. After nearly another minute the once normal looking clearing was spinning like an actual whirlpool, a few large trees had even been swept up in the sand current. "Now, Massive Sand Burial!" In an instant the sound of splintering trees and split second howls of agony filled the area before everything went silent once again.

Gaara looked at his handy work with a frown. "That took far to long to fully form and drained to much chakra, I'll have to work on that." He muttered to himself before using the sand around him to form his gourd on his back as he began walking in the direction of his home.

What he was unaware of however was a certain drunken huntsmen sitting on a branch over looking the clearing with his scroll pointed at the giant sand filled crater that now made up a large portion of the area. "So what do you think Oz?" Qrow asked the silver haired headmaster.

Ozpin was quiet for several moments as he thought over his options. "I think it's about time I meet this boy."

 **One week later**

"Why are we here?" Gaara asked as he followed behind Qrow, their destination being the large tower overlooking them.

Qrow shrugged. "I've got an old buddy here who wants to meet you, try and be nice, maybe I'll buy you some ice cream if you're good." Qrow quipped as he took another swig from his flask.

Gaara grunted, he hated ice cream and the drunk knew it. He couldn't stand how cold it was, it gave him a headache every time he ate any. "Whatever." Gaara sounded resigned to this meeting.

The two walked into the base of the tower and began walking towards a set of elevators, as they walked Qrow flashed his Huntsmen's license at the secretary earning a nod. Stepping into the elevator the drunk pressed a button and the doors closed and they began rising. Less than a minute later they stopped and the doors opened to reveal a large mostly glass office with large gears hanging above them. "Qrow, I hadn't expected you for another hour." A silver haired man spoke from a desk on the far side of the room, standing across from him was a younger looking woman with blonde hair holding a scroll.

"Yeah well, I wanted to have a few more drinks at my favorite bar down by the docks but the kid dragged me out." He said in a joking voice even though he was being literal.

"I'm not going to wait for hours as you get drunk and rejected by the waitress." Gaara responded with his usual neutral face and tone, turning towards the older man behind the desk he stepped forward. "I'm assuming it was you who asked to meet me. Here I am, now what do you want?" He more demanded than asked. Gaara didn't like adults as a general rule, Tai was alright and he tolerated Qrow, but after what he'd been put through as a child he just couldn't bring himself to trust anyone significantly older than he was.

"Young man that is no way to speak to your elders." The blonde chastised with a frown on her face.

Gaara glanced at her for only a moment. "I asked again, what do you want?"

The blonde woman looked ready to shout when the older man raised his hand stopping her. "It's fine Glynda, young Gaara here was brought here without being told why. I don't at all blame him for being a bit agitated." The man spoke with a smile. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you young man, Qrow here has told me quite a bit about you. I am the headmaster here at Beacon academy, please call me Professor Ozpin."

Gaara looked to the drunk. "Does this have anything to do with you spying on me?" Gaara question the now sheepish looking Qrow.

"I haven't got a clue what yur talkin about kid." Qrow replied earning a glare and a shake of the head from Gaara.

"Indeed, my apologies for asking him to do that, but you've capture my interest young man." Ozpin looked to Qrow and then Glynda. "Qrow, Glynda, do you think I could speak with Gaara here alone for a few minutes. If that's okay with you of course Gaara." Ozpin looked to the red head who nodded. The two hunters made their way to the elevators and quickly began to descend. Reaching under his desk Ozpin withdrew a small bowl filled with candy and set it on his desk. "Would you like one?" He offered only getting a brief shake of the head in response. "Very well. So Gaara, from what I've heard you've impressed quite a few people at Signal academy. Nearly perfect scores in academics, undefeated in combat classes, no disciplinary actions taken in your time there. All around the perfect student. Tell me something though, why do you want to become a huntsmen Gaara?"

"I don't." His answer was quick and simple.

Ozpin nodded his head only slightly surprised by the answer. "Then isn't it rather odd of a choice to attend a combat school?"

"I suppose." Gaara answered simply and briefly once again.

Ozpin was quiet for a few seconds as he thought over what to say next, as things were going he wasn't going to learn much from the boy. Gaara wasn't the type to take the bait and explain everything so easily. "So why are you training to fight grimm?"

"I'm not." Now this surprised him a bit more. "Grimm are easy to fight, they're stupid and simple beasts. They're no threat to me."

"Those are some rather confident words, what makes you so sure?" Ozpin asked.

"They only know how to attack directly, each variant only has a extremely limited number of strategies and tactics, none of which are effective against my defense." Gaara explained evenly.

"Yes, your sand shield is very impressive. I've seen several videos of your matches back at Signal, but even with it's strength you shouldn't under estimate the creatures of grimm." Ozpin spoke sagely to the boy before him.

Gaara closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and glaring at the headmaster. "I'm tired of dancing around words, ask what you truly want to or stop wasting my time."

Ozpin sighed. "Very well. Young man I've known about you since you first arrived at the Xiao Long residence years ago. Since then I've scoured the databases of Remnant for anyone named Gaara matching your description, nothing. I widened my search to missing children, nothing. I widened it further to redhead who lived in a desert, still nothing. It's not impossible that your family kept you under the radar for your early life, but that would require zero doctors visits, which would have to note the fact that your aura was unlocked and add you to the system by law." Ozpin explained as he leaned back in his chair. "While odd, none of this is truly enough to catch my interest the way you have."

Pulling out his scroll he place it on his desk causing a hologram showing Gaara's sand whirlpool, this earned an angry growl from the boy at having been spied on again and not noticing. "Your 'aura' and your 'semblance' are beyond incredible. At your age to be able to change the landscape like this is unheard of. Then there's the fact that your aura is strange, I'm sure you're aware that the sensors at Signal academy haven't been able to register you in your time their." To this Gaara nodded. "Now sense I know you're not the type to enjoying 'dancing around words' as you put it, I'm just gonna be straight with you young man. I do not believe your abilities stem from aura at all, nor do I believe your control over sand is your semblance. I believe you use a completely different power all together." Gaara nodded his head as he listened to the man, he'd known it was only a matter of time until someone figured him out. "I believe you're using magic."

That however was not what Gaara had been expecting as he nearly fell from his chair in surprise, it was the kind of thing Ruby would accuse him of being capable of. "What?"

"Magic, the ability to manipulate, alter, or affect things in a way that is not understood by science." Ozpin clarified.

"Mhm, and let's say I did have this 'magic'. What then?" Gaara recomposed himself in his chair.

"Well, that's the main reason I've asked that you be brought here today. I'd like to take you on as my personal apprentice here at Beacon academy, from what I've seen there isn't much that Signal can really teach you seeing as you've been dominating all of your classmates, even the seniors." Ozpin explained while leaning back in his chair. "Of course you'd still be required to attend academic tutoring sessions like math, history and the like."

"No." Gaara cut in before he could continue.

"Excuse me?" Ozpin asked truly caught off guard.

"I have no desire to move ahead or leave my home on Patch, find someone else." Gaara stood from his chair before turning to leave.

"Wait." Ozpin stood up as well. "I can guarantee the best possible education on Remnant, you'll doubtlessly become one of the greatest huntsmen on the planet." Ozpin urged though Gaara didn't care.

"I don't care, I'm not leaving my family." Gaara continued walking.

Then Ozpin understood, Qrow had mentioned the boys closeness with Tai daughters. "I see, well then how about this. If you accept my offer I will extend a full scholarship to both Ms. Xiao Long and Rose." That got the boy to stop walking.

Gaara remained still for several seconds before turning back to the headmaster. "Fine, but one other thing."

Ozpin nodded know that he probably have to agree regardless, if this boy did have magic then he had to have him on his side. "Name it."

"I don't start until Ruby does." Gaara stated simply.

Ozpin sighed but nodded, sure it meant he'd have to wait a few more years, but he'd have him. "That is acceptable." Ozpin nodded.

"I would hope so." With that he continued towards the elevator.

 **Patch**

"YOU DID WHAT!?" Ruby screamed while Yang stood back holding her sides as she laughed. "You got us scholarships!" The silver eyed girl shouted bouncing before jumping onto the redhead and wrapping legs around his waist as she hugged him.

"Way to go Sandy, I bet dad's gonna be happy that he doesn't have to pay tuition for us anymore." Yang walked over and pulled the boy into a hug as well.

Gaara couldn't help but laugh at the sisters reactions as he accepted the embrace from the two. Were it anyone else his sand would likely stop them from getting close but Ruby and Yang were exempt from the sands protection. "I'm glad you're happy." He smiled as he unwrapped Ruby from around him.

"But why does he want you to be his personal apprentice so bad?" Yang asked taking a step back.

"Not sure, but apparently Qrow has been updating him on me for years now. Not sure how I feel about that." Gaara shrugged.

"Well let's go let dad know, I'm sure he'll be happy." Ruby grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the house.

 **So I hope you all liked the newest chapter, I would have gotten this done yesterday but Shadow Of War has been consuming me. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So some people don't seem to like my author notes, they say it's a way for apologizing for my work. Well fuck that, I'll never apologize for my writing. Authors notes are just a way for me to speak directly to the reader however briefly and if they upset you so much that you can't enjoy the story then don't read my shit, simple as that. For everyone else, let's do this.**

Gaara let out a relaxed breath as he laid back in his bed, his stereo playing his favorite music, an older band known as System Of A Down. He'd just gotten back from a three day training trip in the woods during which he only managed about an hour and a half of sleep, he was exhausted. Yang had decided to throw a party the day before which was a large reason for why he'd decided to go out training in the first place, he couldn't stand parties, to loud with to many people. She'd done it to celebrate getting a letter of confirmation that she'd indeed been accepted into Beacon.

It had been over a year since he'd spoken with Ozpin and he'd on occasion find the headmaster popping up randomly during his private training time in the forest. It had bugged him to no end at first but after several sparring matches with the headmaster and seeing just how good the man was he'd started to almost enjoy their fights. Over the past several years not a single student at Signal academy had managed to land even a glancing blow on him, Qrow and Tai had been able to hit him a few times over the years though they never actually beat him, but to be fair he'd never managed to defeat them either. Their matches would simply continue in a stale mate until they called it a day.

Ozpin on the other hand was good, very very good. After each spar Gaara would walk away with a large number of bruises, sure he'd managed to land a few good hit of his own but he'd still never been able to defeat Ozpin.

Bringing his hands to his face he sighed, the day after the next he and Ruby would begin their third year at Signal. Reaching over and into a drawer in his night stand he pulled out a pill bottle and opened it. Taking out two of the round white pills he popped them into his mouth and took a swig of water from a bottle he had nearby. Lying back down Gaara closed his eyes and waited for the sleeping pills to kick in, he didn't like needing medication to sleep and only took it on occasion but he was tired and knew the pills were the only way he'd sleep through the whole night.

His eyes shot open when he heard the front door to the house fly open. "I'M GOING TO BEACON!" He heard Ruby scream.

Now he knew he was gonna need the sleep.

 **Days later**

"Oh I'm so excited! I get to go to Beacon with both of my favorite antisocial redheads!" Yang squealed as she held both Gaara and Ruby in a headlock smushing both their faces into her ample chest. "This is the best day ever!"

"Please let go." Ruby mumbled.

"You're causing a scene Yang." Gaara added wiggling himself out of the girls embrace. He could see several boys around them glaring at him with what he assumed was jealousy, most would kill to have their faces jammed into the blondes breasts, but Gaara didn't really care. He looked at Yang like an older sister, she'd taken to doting on him the same way she did Ruby shortly after he began living with them. She was what he'd always imagined Temari would be like had Rasa allowed them to interact.

"Oh I can't help it, I'm just so happy!" As she said this the ship tilted ever to slightly, not enough to cause anyone to move but Gaara did bring his hand to his stomach. "You okay Gaara?"

"Did you bring your lozenges?" Ruby asked equally as concerned for the boy.

"I'm fine." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of hard candy and quickly unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth, he hated air travel, it always made him want to vomit. One day a few years back on a family trip to a beach resort, courtesy of Qrow who knew the owner, Ruby had bought him a pack of ginger candies to calm his stomach. He'd started carrying some with him ever since. "I'm gonna go splash some water on my face." He told the pair before turning and heading for the bathroom, shortly after turning he could hear Yang begin gushing once more.

Pushing open the door to the bathroom he walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet, as he stood their another boy entered the bathroom, this one wearing armor with orange hair. "Whoa, aren't you a little young to be here?" The boy asked Gaara who was now simply looking at himself in the mirror, or more specifically the tattoo above his left eye, he'd gotten it shortly after finishing his second year at Signal, it was simple, the kanji for love. Tai had flipped when he came home with it, he shouted about Gaara turning into a delinquent, even after pointing out that Tai himself had a tattoo as well he was still grounded for a month.

Instead of responding Gaara simply stepped away from the sink and made to leave the bathroom. "Hey, don't ignore me." The boy growled as he stuck his hand out to stop Gaara only for a small amount of sand to break off from his gourd and block him.

Exiting the bathroom he soon felt the ship dock and the doors began opening. Looking ahead he could see Ruby and Yang already exiting the ship, a blonde boy ran ahead of them and began puking in a trash can. Gaara grinned slightly at that, at least he wasn't the only one who was bad with air travel. Following after the sisters Gaara tried to stay near the edge of the crowd of students, he still wasn't comfortable around crowds.

 _'What the... how long...'_

Gaara stopped dead in his tracks, a look of absolutely dread instantly formed on his face. "No." He whispered.

 _'Am I still sealed? What the fuck!?'_

Gaara couldn't help the cold sweat that began forming on his skin. "That voice."

 _'Brat? Holy shit it's you! You piece of shit, you nearly killed the both of us with that blast!'_ Gaara's body began shivering as the far to familiar voice spoke in his head. _'But you did manage to kill that bastard father of yours AND destroyed that damned village, HAHAHAHAHAH. Mother is proud kiddo!'_

Then suddenly the shivering stopped and Gaara's fear changed now becoming anger. "No." He growled with pure hatred bleeding into his voice.

 _'Huh?"_

"You are NOT my mother." Gaara seethed at the voice inside his head. "My mother loved me, she died loving me and my siblings. You are not my mother." He continued.

 _'Oh hoho, looks like somebody has finally grown a pair. How long have I been out, you definitely sound different, when did you figure it out?'_ The voice laughed heartily at the boys words.

Gaara was silent for nearly a minute. "Eight years."

 _'EIGHT YEARS!? WHAT THE FUCK TOOK SO LONG?! It shouldn't have taken more than two for me to regain enough chakra to wake up! Wait a second.'_ The voice went quiet for several seconds. _'There's no chakra in the air, no natural energy. What the hell is going on brat?'_

"We're no longer in the elemental nations, I don't know how or why it happened, but this is a new world. A better world." With that Gaara began walking again.

 _'A new world? Well... shit.'_ The voice sounded perplexed.

Before Gaara could reply a loud bang shook the courtyard, looking to the source Gaara was only slightly surprised to see an embarrassed looking Ruby standing in front of an irate looking girl in white who was now shouting at her. Sighing Gaara began walking over.

"What are you even doing here, aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" The girl shouted at the Rose haired girl.

"Five minutes and already blowing thinks up, new record right?" Gaara grinned as he walked up gaining both girls attentions.

"What is this a nursery? Why are so many children at Beacon?!" The white theme'd girl ranted.

Gaara glanced at her. "You should leave." He told the girl ignoring her questions.

"Wha- who are you to tell me wha-" Her rant was cut off as a sensation fell over her causing her skin to crawl and a knot to form in her stomach.

"Leave... now." Gaara spoke just as calmly as ever though the look in his eyes promised bad things if she didn't comply. Turning in a huff she began to storm off while trying to hide the sweat that had now formed on her forehead.

"Gaara." He heard Ruby say his name in a disapproving tone, turning to the girl he found her standing with her arms crossed. "You know you promised dad you'd at least try to make friends here, not scare people off." Walking up to him Ruby held out a fist and lightly bopped him on the head before giggling to herself. "But thanks for the help."

Gaara smiled at this. "Well I'd be breaking my promise if I didn't help." He said earning a laugh.

"We made that promise when we were kids, and besides I'm a super awesome huntress now. I can take care of myself." She beamed putting her hands on her hips looking proud.

Gaara shook his head in response. "Doesn't matter, it still stands." He told her earning a pout.

"Hi there." The two heard looking over at a tall blonde boy approaching from nearby, the same boy who had air sickness if Gaara remembered correctly.

"Mr. Gaara." Another voice spoke up gaining the two attention again, this time it was a tall blonde woman whom Gaara recognized as Glynda Goodwitch.

Turning to Ruby, Gaara smiled. "It seems I have to go now, I'll see you and Yang later."

"Alright, try not to get in trouble." She giggled.

"Says the girl who just exploded." He stated as he walked towards the older woman.

"ACCIDENT!"

 **Later**

Gaara sat quietly with his eyes closed in Ozpin's office as he waited for the headmaster who was likely still giving his speech to the freshmen.

 _'Hey brat'_

Gaara twitched slightly. "What." Hey muttered with a small amount of venom in his voice.

 _'Hey now, no need for the hostility I just wanted to let you know I just finished off sifting through your memories of the last eight years. So this Ozpin guy thinks you can use magic, that's fuckin rich. Though on the topic of your abilities I gotta say your skill in using and manipulating chakra is terrible! You've been pumping way to much chakra than you need to into every jutsu you use. Then there's the fact that you don't use any hand signs making it nearly impossible for you to properly mold your chakra.'_

Gaara didn't reply for several moments. "Your acting far less malicious than you were years back."

 _'Yeah well, you were a lot easier to mess with when you were just a brat, after eight years without me you've matured to the point where I doubt my taunts would have as much affect. Besides, I'm in a REALLY good mood right now.'_

Gaara wasn't quiet sure how to feel about that. "And why is that exactly?"

 _'Because we're in a world completely devoid of chakra, meaning no more damned ninja. Once you kick the bucket in a few decades, sooner if I'm lucky, I'm free! No seal masters to bind me! After more than two hundred years of being sealed away I'll finally be free, and if all I gotta do is wait out one more human life span then fine by me.'_

"Unless I find a way to seal you after my death that is." Gaara shot back without truly thinking about his words.

 _'That's not funny brat'_

"Maybe I'm serious, after the hell you put me through, I think you might deserve it." All of a sudden a head splitting roar echoed within his head causing him to grasp it and fall from his chair to the floor in pain. "However... I'm willing to... compromise!" Gaara screamed still holding his skull as if it was about to explode. After several more seconds the roar ceased.

 _'Explain.'_

The voice demanded with clear hatred in it's voice. "You've seen... my memories." Gaara climbed to his feet and began stumbling over to the window over looking the school. "So you should know what I want." The voice was quiet for nearly a minute.

 _'The girl.'_

Now the voice sounded somewhat more amused than before. "Teach me, give me the power to protect her. To protect her from anything or anyone. Do that, and I'll do nothing to impede your freedom upon my death." The voice let out a loud cackle of amusement.

 _'Love, that emotion has never caused a mortal to do anything smart! Very well brat, I'll teach you, you'll have power beyond match to protect your little Rose!'_

Gaara couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face. "What's your name spirit?"

 _'Call me Shukaku.'_

 **So I know what your all thinking, or it may just be me, but Ruby and Gaara need more interaction time and relationship development. Don't worry they'll get it, this is going to be a slow burn after all. At the current moment Gaara probably doesn't even understand his feeling for Ruby. Anyway, leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**If I'm entirely honest this story is the hardest to write for out of all my stories, something about how stoic and reserved Gaara is makes it really difficult to keep him in character. Whenever I write dialogue for him I always end up asking myself, would Gaara talk this much? Well I've beaten every Dark Souls/Bloodborne game multiple times, so I can handle this. Anyway, Let's get started.**

Gaara panted on his knees near the center of the Beacon combat arena, his sand hovered protectively in the air around him. "Come now Gaara, we've only been at this for an hour. If this is all it take to push you then we really need to work on your stamina." Ozpin shouted from near the edge of the ring, he only had a light sweat visible on his forehead.

Gaara glared at the man. "Shut up." He growled before flinging his hand towards the headmaster sending a wave of sand towards him. Ozpin sidestepped the attack as well as the follow up when the sand curved towards his back.

Lunging forward Ozpin clear most of the distance between the two extremely quickly and raised his cane to attack, when Gaara's sand moved to block Ozpin seemed to bend around the shield in a blur of movement and strike Gaara on the shoulder. "Your shield is far to predictable, it's incredibly easy for anyone with enough experience to predict how it will move and adjust accordingly." Ozpin stated simply before turning and heading for the edge of the ring. "We'll call it here for today, tomorrow is initiation and it wouldn't do for you to be exhausted. Go to the ballroom with the rest of the first years and get some rest." He called back to the still kneeling redhead.

 _'Wow, that old man kicked your ass kid. Now I KNOW I need to teach you how to use my sand and chakra properly.'_

Gaara growled in frustration at the sand demons comments and he stood to his feet and began walking towards the locker rooms.

 **Later**

Gaara dried of his hair with his towel before pulling a T-shirt from his bag, it was a simple black shirt with a dark grey hourglass symbol on his chest. Ruby and Yang had given it to him as a gift as well as several other pieces of clothing with the symbol stitched in on his last birthday. He knew about the trend of everyone designing their own emblem and wearing it on their person but he'd simply never taken the time to do so, he never felt the need. Then the sisters decided to take the matter into their own hands and design one for him.

The irony was not lost on him with how incredibly similar the symbol was to the symbol for the village of Suna. Walking out of the locker room Gaara made his way into the ballroom and took a moment to look around for Ruby and Yang, Yang had told him she'd handle the sleeping bags. After only a few seconds he found the two talking to a girl with black hair and a bow.

Walking over he could hear the two sister start to argue. "You two are making a racket." He spoke up earning the groups attention, Ruby and Yang simply split up looking sheepish while the black themed girl instantly became far more on edge at the sight of him. He looked her over for only a second, he knew what was wrong, there was only ever one type of person that had that type of reaction to him. "A faunus." He whispered so lowly he doubted anyone could've actually heard him.

Faunus always had negative reactions to his presence, nobody knew why but it was always the same. One kid at Signal had been dragged into the councilors office along side Gaara himself after displaying an irrational fear of fighting the boy or a very high reluctance to being in a close proximity to him. The teachers, aside from Tai and Qrow, had believed Gaara had secretly been terrorizing the faunus student of Signal. Then the boy explained how Gaara had never done anything to him but every time he got near the red head his hair would stand on end and something in his gut would tell him to run away. Nobody was sure about the causes for this, except Gaara himself, and even he had only just learned mere hours ago.

Apparently faunus have heightened instincts than humans and can subconsciously sense Shukaku within him, his demonic chakra sets off alarm bells in the back of the Faunus's minds causing the extreme unease.

The girl's eyes widened at his whisper followed by her bow twitching. Gaara's eyes only lingered on her for a few moments before he looked back to the two sisters. "I'm gone five minutes and look at you two." He shook his head with a small grin.

"Five minutes? You disappeared hours ago! Where have you been?" Ruby demanded placing her hands on her hips.

"What is going on over here?!" A familiar girl in white stomped over.

"Nothing." Gaara replied. "Go back to bed, now." He glared at the girl causing her to falter slightly but this time she didn't give in.

"You, who do you think you are to speak to me like that, and then there's that look. How did a creep like you make it into Beacon?" She stuck her nose into the air.

 _'Can I kill her? Please, please can I kill her? I promise I'll make it look like an accident.'_ Shukaku beg inside Gaara's minds, interestingly enough the moment he spoke with his head he noticed the girl in black and every other faunus nearby shudder slightly.

"Hey, don't call Gaara a creep. He far nicer than you are, and for your information he didn't just get accepted early, Professor Ozpin has taken him as his personal stu-" Ruby was cut off as Gaara placed his hand over her mouth.

"Time for bed." He said simply before looking to Yang. "Where's our stuff?" The busty blonde pointed to where she laid out their bag. With a nod Gaara looked back to the white and black themed girls, after looking between them for a moment he settled his glare on the girl in white. "Be careful who you anger girl." With that he began walking towards his sleeping bag.

 **The next day**

Gaara sat at the cliff overlooking the Emerald forest, his leg were crossed and eyes were closed, he'd been there for two hours already. As usual he only slept about three hours and had spent the rest of the night working on chakra control with Shukaku's help. His progress was staggering, in only a few hours he'd already learned more than he had in months of self training, it just went to show that having a teacher really does make all the difference.

Of course he hadn't even begun learning any new jutsu, he'd just been doing simple chakra control. Normally when he walked up the side of a tree he had to nearly constantly think about the amount of chakra he was using, with a little bit of help from Shukaku he could already tell how much easier it was to maintain the proper flow. Aside from that he'd been working on learning handsigns, it was definitely gonna take a lot of work to remember and form each sign on demand but he was prepared.

"Good morning." Ozpin's voice came from behind as he walked up next to the boy. "I trust you managed to get enough sleep last night?" Ozpin asked taking a sip of his coffee, at his feet he notice a very subtle movement in the grass. A small amount of sand had settled in the grass around Gaara as soon as he arrived, the boy still didn't trust him, though this was to be expected. To his knowledge the only person over eighteen the boy actually trusted was Taiyang.

"I'll manage." He responded without moving.

"Good to hear, to be honest with your current level of power I highly doubt this exam will be of any real challenge to you. For you it's merely a symbolic task, you've already been accepted as my apprentice because of your abilities." Ozpin explained to the boy who made no attempt to appear as though he was listening. "You will not be placed onto a team, instead you will be working alone, with you skill level I'm sure this shouldn't prove any real issue. As for your lodging, you will have a choice of your own solo room or the chance to move in with a team of your choice so long as they agree. We're well aware that isolating you from the other students will do more harm than good so Glynda and I decided to leave the choice up to you."

"Professor I've called the first years, they should be arriving soon." Said blonde approached from nearby, looking to Gaara who still sat with his eyes closed she raised an eyebrow. "Good morning Mr. Gaara, I hope you got enough rest last night?" Glynda unknowingly copied Ozpin's earlier question.

"I'll manage." He responded the same way he did before earning a small chuckle from Ozpin.

Soon just as Glynda said the other first years began arriving, Ruby and Yang among the final few. Standing up Gaara walked over to the pad next to Ruby as Ozpin began giving instructions.

 _'Hey kid, while we're in that forest I want you to trap a grimm in some sand. I've been looking through your memories and what you know about them and I want to try something.'_ Shukaku spoke up.

Gaara didn't respond to the voice in his head in an attempt to not appear insane. After another minute of waiting the pad began launching student into the air, Gaara didn't react much once he was thrown through the air, the massive gourd of sand on his back collapsed and surrounded him in a cocoon of sand. The sand condensed until it was like a meteor flying through the sky, his hang time was far less then most of the other students because of his weight. Even if his was smaller than any of the other boys and only slightly larger than Ruby, his gourd still weight nearly one hundred and fifty pounds. He didn't actually feel all the weight as he used his chakra to perpetually hold up the gourd while it was on his back so he only really felt like he was carrying around thirty pounds.

Crashing through the trees the cocoon of sand turned anything it hit into splinters before slamming into the ground and created a long trench as it slid across the dirt finally coming to a halt about twenty yards in. After a few seconds the sand crumbled away and Gaara stood up and dust off his long red duster and the grey vest over it. **(The outfit he fought Deidara in.)**

Calling his sand into a gourd once again Gaara began walking north, it didn't take long at all before he came across a lone Ursa. Holding out his hand he sent his sand towards the grimm with it's back turned and quickly encased it's feet. Closing his hand he crushed the struggling beasts legs completely before surrounding the rest of it in sand. "Alright, what do you want with it?"

 _'Hold on a sec.'_ A few seconds after saying this Gaara began feeling a burning sensation along his arm as red chakra began forming around the limb. _'Now touch it.'_

Gaara didn't move for a moment before deciding to do as the beast said and walked over to the grimm and touch the monster with the chakra covered limb, the effects were instant. Steam began rising from the point of contact and the whimpering beast began howling in pain. Stepping back Gaara clenched his fist and crush the grimm to death. "What just happened?"

 _'I had a hunch that those beast were constructs of corrupted nature energy, and while I wasn't wrong I wasn't able to absorb it like I'd hoped, instead my chakra over powered it's energy and burned it like you saw. Seems the energy of this world is more different than I thought. Alright my curiosity is sated.'_

Gaara nodded. "Good, now where's Ruby?" Gaara asked himself as he continued walking, neither beings noticing the camera that had been watching their entire experiment.

 **Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all enjoyed it. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I've got another stories that need some attention but I just can't quit thinking of this one. Let's go.**

"Thirty seven." Gaara turned around and whipped his hand out towards the last remaining creep just as it jumped at him, sand enveloped the beast and Gaara clenched his hand crushing the beast completely. "Thirty eight. I'd forgotten how much higher the grimm population was on the mainland as opposed to Patch." Gaara thought aloud. It didn't really matter how many there were, grimm weren't an issue for him, as long as he had his sand they would never reach him. Instead it was people he was worried about.

Something most people ignored was the fact that people had the ability to be much greater monsters than any mindless beasts. One man with enough determination could do more damage that a thousand grimm. Continuing on his path Gaara walked through the thick brush, he didn't rush as he wasn't in any hurry.

 _'Hey kid, I can sense your little Rose and several others not far ahead. Something big is there to.'_

Gaara didn't respond and instead only slightly quickened his pace, he knew perfectly well the both Ruby and Yang were more than strong enough to take care of themselves, plus they had help from other students according to Shukaku.

It didn't take long before he saw the clearing in the distance.

 **Beacon Cliff**

"Finally, he shows it." Ozpin muttered to himself as he watched the recording of Gaara's first encounter with a grimm in the forest, he'd been watching it on repeat for several minutes. More specifically the part where that strange red aura began bubbling from his body, it's effect on grimm only added to his interest.

"Is that what Qrow described after first meeting the boy?" Glynda asked while keeping an eye on the other students with her scroll.

"Yes, according to Qrow his physical abilities sky rocketed to the point that he able to easily over power two full grown huntsmen. However in all the years since it's first appearance neither I nor Qrow have seen it." Ozpin explained zooming into the point of contact between him and the grimm. "During many of our sparring matches I would try to push him to the point that he would used it, when that didn't work I tried subtly taunting him. I finally came to the conclusion that he either didn't know how to access it, didn't know he even had it, or could only use it when he legitimately thought his life was in danger. Now I'm not so sure."

"If I may sir, why not simply ask him about it?" Glynda asked her boss.

"Gaara doesn't trust me, despite my best efforts he still suspects me of wanting to use him as some sort of tool. A large reason for this I believe is because he recognizes that I am in a position of power like he claims his father was, at least as he told Taiyang years ago. With how he was treated by his father I'm not at all surprised that he wouldn't trust anyone that he drew any kind of parallel between the two." Ozpin finally shifted to viewing a live feed following the boy.

"With all do respect, Gaara is an incredibly power young man with abilities that we believe may one day surpass that of the maidens. If he doesn't trust us how can we be sure he will be on our side when the time comes?" Glynda shuddered to imagine the damage an out of control Gaara could cause to Remnant.

Ozpin smiled lightly. "If we want to remain on the boys good side it's as simple as remaining on the good side of the one he cares for the most."

"Ruby Rose." Glynda nodded.

 **With Gaara**

Gaara watched with a larger smile than usual as Ruby decapitated a giant nevermore on the side of the cliff, he been watching since she'd almost been hit by the deathstalker and the Schnee girl saved her. He'd been prepared to step in if necessary but knew she'd never learn anything if he did, plus she'd be mad if he 'stole her kills' as she put it. Still he wouldn't hesitate if he believed her life was truly in danger.

In his left hand he held a black king chess piece and behind him he could hear the growling and whimpering of the pack of beowulves that had attacked him while he was watching the battle Ruby and Yang were fighting. He didn't pay them much attention instead simply allowing his sand to crush or impale any that got to close.

After another few minutes Gaara turned and began walking towards the cliff they were launched from, but not before quickly dealing with the remaining dozen grimm with a barrage of high speed clumps of sand which tore into them like bullets. I only took about half an hour before he reached the cliff, using chakra he was able to scale it in only five minutes. Standing there waiting patiently were Ozpin and Glynda, holding out the chess piece to the headmaster who quickly accepted it he prepared to make his way back to the school. "Gaara, before you go I wanted to make you aware that both Ms. Rose and Ms. Xiao Long will be placed onto the same team. Just encase you were interested."

Gaara nodded before heading for the auditorium.

 **Later**

"Lead by... Ruby Rose." Ozpin announced causing a look of shock to appear on both Ruby's and Weiss's face. Gaara smiled as he stood off to the side of the room. "And finally, this year we have a bit of a special case. Gaara please step forward." The room became quiet once again.

Gaara slowly began walking towards the stage, arms still crossed and his gourd still on his back. In the crowd he could hear whispering especially from the faunus present, some looked nervous others angry though they were sure why.

"Gaara, you retrieved the black king piece and as we discussed will not be placed on a team during your time here at Beacon academy." Turning to the crowd of student Ozpin continued. "Now as many of you know, especially the upperclassmen present, a large portion of a students grades are based on an average of the over all scores the team makes. Just like in the field if one person fails it will harm their team and make things more difficult. So in order to remedy the situation we find ourselves in I've come up with a solution. Should you agree you will essentially be joining a team, however this will only extend to your academic scores, you will not actually be a member of the chosen team. Also you will have the choice of either having your own dorm room, or you may chose to share a room with an already established team, of course the leader of said team must be alright with all of this. Do you understand?"

"Yes, and I've made my decision." Ozpin nodded. "I'd like to choose team RWBY."

"Ruby Rose please come back to the stage." Ozpin called out and in a flurry of rose petal Ruby was back on the stage looking excited. "Are you willing to accept Gaara as a part of your teams academic scoring as well as a roommate?"

"Yes sir!" She gave a thumbs up with a wide smile.

"Very well. Congratulations to everyone."

 **Later**

"How could you agree to allowing a boy to share a room with us without consulting us? He's a guy and we're four girls, of course he'd want to be in our room, he probably wants to peek on us while we change!" Weiss shouted at Ruby as she push her bag underneath her chosen bed.

"Hey back off, Gaara isn't like that!" Yang responded crossing her arms as she sat on her bed. "Gaara has lived with me and Ruby since we were little and he's never tried anything like that."

"It's true, Yang is more of a pervert than Gaara." Ruby through in earning a glare from her sister.

Weiss still didn't look happy. "And what about our grades? How do we know he won't drag us down?"

"Oh Gaara has always gotten way better grades than either of us, plus he's always at the top of the class in sparring. Even upperclassmen couldn't beat him. If anything he'll boost our scores." Yang waved her off. "Besides, I doubt we'll even see him much at night."

"Why?" Blake asked this time.

"He's an insomniac. He only gets an hour or two of sleep a night if at all, he has medication for it but he doesn't like taking it. So he'll probably come back to the dorm sometime after we fall asleep and will go out and train before we wake up." Yang explained, oddly enough the secret faunus seemed to look a bit relieved to here this.

A moment later the door creaked open and in walked a freshly showered Gaara wearing his pajamas. Dragging behind him was his gourd. Walking over to the corner that he'd set all his belongings in when they first arrived at their new room he sat down. There were only four beds in the room so Gaara had volunteered to take the floor until they could take care of that problem in the morning.

"Hey Gaara, could you tell Weiss you're not gonna peep at her while she's changing. She's worried that you're one of those guys." Ruby asked her friend with a smile.

Gaara looked to the heiress with his usual plain look. "I assure you I have absolutely no attraction to you Weiss Schnee, so stop worrying about such things." Weiss became red in the face at the hidden insult in his words. "Blake Belladonna." He spoke again catching the attention of the girl whose head popped up the moment he spoke her name. "Will you be alright with my presence here?"

"Why do you ask her and not me?" Weiss asked indignantly.

Gaara glanced back to her. "Because she's afraid of me, you're just a brat." He said plainly surprising everyone in the room earning an even more furious look from Weiss.

Ruby and Yang looked to Blake. "Why are you scared of Gaara?"

"Don't worry about why, just respect it." Gaara spoke first before looking back to Blake. "So what's your answer?"

Blake was quiet for several seconds. "I'll be fine." She looked nervous but nodded.

"Very well then." Gaara held out a hand and all the sand in his gourd began swirling around him quickly forming a dome, just as the last opening was closing he spoke again. "Good night."

 **Years Earlier**

"Where the hell am I?" A young looking boy with blondish gray hair and a scar on his face asked nobody in particular and he laid on his back on the bank of a river, the bottom half of his body still sitting in the water. "Hey Three, what happened?" He asked aloud.

 _'I don't know. We were attacked by that man in the mask, he kept using that space time jutsu. When he tried to suck us up we fired off a tailed beast bomb at the same moment. After that I don't know.'_

The boy would have nodded to the voice in his head but his body was in far to much pain to actually move. "Hello?" He heard from nearby.

"Shit." He cursed under his breath, in his state even a civilian would be able to take him out. Hopefully he wasn't in Water country anymore, plenty of ninja would just love to take him out and take his title.

"Are you alright?" The source of the voice came into view revealing a young teenage girl with long black hair and amber eyes.

Kagura looked her over for any clue as to where he was, her clothes were pretty ordinary which didn't help. "Not really, I'm to beat up to move. Mind helping me out of the water?" He asked.

"Sure." The girl nodded and quickly dragged his lower half out of the cold water. "Your clothes are all torn up and you've got bruises all over you, what happened?"

"Long story, what your name miss?" He spoke sounding exhausted.

"Cinder, who are you?"

"Call me Yagura." With those words the former mizukage lost consciousness.

 **I REALLY need to get Gaara and Ruby alone together, and I will soon! Anyway leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay so I'm gonna admit it, a large part of why I haven't posted for this in a while was out of embarrassment. At the end of chapter 6 I thought I was dropping a bomb when I introduced Yagura. I'm still happy with my decision to bring him in, without adding someone else there wouldn't be anybody capable of standing against Gaara, especially not if Shukaku took over. The problem was instead of saying Yagura I accidentally typed out Kagura who we all know is just a punk ass wannabe. Anyway I just decided to bury my head under the pile of other stories I'm working on, but now I'm back. Let's get started.**

"So how has your training with Professor Ozpin been going?" Ruby asked as she drew a card from her deck and set two down onto the tile on the roof. "This past week has been so busy we haven't had any time to hang out."

Gaara nodded before drawing a card from his own deck and playing one card of his own. "Adjusting has been difficult but we can survive. I heard you were having troubles with your partner."

"Oh Weiss, yeah we had some issues at first but we're doing a lot better. You never answered my question." She said as she moved several cards to the discard pile.

Gaara hummed. "It's been... taxing." Gaara answered vaguely. "The headmaster has an odd way of teaching, we've been doing quite a bit of sparring as well." It was true, over the past week the two would simply go into the forest and spar until one of them, almost always Gaara, was to exhausted to continue. As much as losing to the old man over and over again frustrated and infuriated him he couldn't deny that he was already beginning to show noticeable improvement in his close range combat. Then after he woke up at around three in the morning he would begin his training with Shukaku which had already multiplied his chakra control multiple times, before the demon had come along he'd been doing everything so wrong.

"Well it can't be any worse than Professor Port's class, he's soooooo boring." The girl whined earning a small smile from the boy. "He goes off on like twenty minute stories and leaves us to learn most of our actual lessons from the textbooks."

"Don't forget that I get almost all of my other lessons from just the text books." He responded still smiling before placing down another card. "That's game."

"WHAT!" Ruby looked down at the cards on the field. "ARG! I hate the deck, all you ever do is summon a few Grimm Drakes and attack me from the air."

Gaara chuckled before gathering up his cards. "Maybe you should have spent your allowance on some better cards rather than cookies and gun magazines." He said standing up as she also gathered her cards, once she was done he held out his hand to her and helped her up to her feet. After a few moments of staring at her Gaara's smile dropped a little. "Ruby, what's wrong?" He asked having noticed a somewhat down look on her face when they first met up to play cards. Ruby was always good at hiding when she was upset, it was something she picked up after her mother passed apparently but Gaara could always tell.

Ruby lost her smile and slowly Gaara watched the dam break as tears began to pour out, dropping her face onto his shoulder Ruby sobbed for nearly a minute as Gaara did his best to comfort her by rubbing her back. "I'm so scared." She whimpered between sobs. "Yesterday... all the team leaders had their first class on how... how to lead." She did her best to get a hold of herself as she spoke but couldn't help but choke on her words. "I'm not ready for this!" She nearly shouted before bursting back into further sobs.

Gaara had never been good at comforting people, having next to zero experience as a child it was one of the many social skills he was severely lacking in, but he always hated seeing Ruby sad. Wrapping his arms around her he decided it would be best to just let the girl get it all out, this had only happen a handful of time in his time on Remnant and usually Yang or Tai would do the heavy lifting, but on the very few occasions where he had to be the pillar of support this is what he'd do.

"Every one is counting on me, and I don't know if I have what it takes." Her fragile voice was muffle by his shirt. "What if I mess up and someone gets hurt?"

Gaara continued to hold the girl as she vented her fears and stresses, they stood there for nearly half an hour like that. At one point an upperclassmen girl with tall rabbit ears opened the door to the roof only to freeze and slowly reclose the door with sweat forming all over her body and every hair standing up after seeing the glare from Gaara, Ruby never noticed. Nor did she notice the large wall of sand now barricading the door to prevent any further intrusions.

Once Ruby's sobs finally stopped and removed her face from his shoulder she quickly wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry for doing that, but thank you." She finally separated from him and wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeves.

"It's fine." He gave her one of the smiles he reserves for her and rarely Yang. "But I think you're looking at this wrong." He said earning a confused look. "A team may be nothing without their leader, but a leader is nothing without their team. You have Weiss, Blake, and Yang to fallback on if you ever need to. All you have to do is ask and none of them would hesitate to help you. I believe in you Ruby, and so do they." Gaara more long windedly than he was use to but he knew it needed to be said.

Ruby seemed to smile again as she thought about this. "But what about you?"

"Huh?" This time Gaara being the confused one.

"Can I ask you for help." Ruby asked with a small blush as she stared at her feet.

Gaara couldn't help but chuckled causing the reaper to send him a small glare. Smiling he began walking towards the door, the sand blocking it began reforming the gourd on his back. "You wouldn't need to ask."

 **Later**

 _"Why are you putting so much chakra into, this is a wind style jutsu not fire so stop acting like your generating the air yourself, use the air around you as fuel. You should only be focusing your chakra into you lung to expel the air."_ Shukaku explained from inside of Gaara's head. Gaara released a tired sigh before letting the built up chakra disperse before trying again. After a moment he quickly flipped through the hands signs required and took in a deep breath. _"Now let it all out in one go, strike your stomach if you have two. I find it helps me get a bit of extra power behind it."_

Aiming for a nearby tree Gaara raised his fist and quickly brought it down into his belly as he released the attack. Out of his mouth shot a large basketball sized sphere of wind that sped through the air and grazed the side of the tree he'd been aiming at, tearing out a good chunk in the process. Gaara coughed for several seconds afterwards while rubbing his throat. "That hurts."

Shukaku only laughed inside his head. _"Eh you'll get use to it, once your lungs toughen up a bit you won't even feel it. Besides any damage will be taken care of by my chakra. What you should be worrying about though is that god awful aim, how do you miss a tree that's right in front of you?"_ The demon continued laughing in his head.

Gaara growled at the voice in his head but didn't reply knowing that was what the beast wanted. He hadn't been nearly as malicious since waking up but it was clear that he still truly enjoyed getting under his skin whenever possible.

"Well now, that was an interesting attack. Though you don't seem to have it down just yet." A familiar voice spoke from behind him.

 _"Oh yeah, that headmaster guy has been watching for several minutes now. Did I forget to mention?"_ The demon cackled loudly.

Gaara growled again before turning to look at the older man who stood several yards away with his cane and ever present mug of coffee. "Headmaster Ozpin, why are you out so late?" Gaara asked casually trying to ignore the still laughing demon in his head.

"Hmm." Ozpin hummed to himself before taking another sip from his mug. "To be honest I believe I should be asking you that question. Normally any student caught out of their dorm rooms after curfew would get detention for a few days. A student in the Emerald forest at two in the morning however, that's much more serious." Ozpin spoke very casually.

Gaara sighed again before dropping to the ground in a cross legged position as began rubbing his eyes, he was way to tired for all of this. "What do you want headmaster?" This time he spoke with far less formality.

Ozpin chuckled. "Nothing really, I was simply in the middle of completing some late night paper work when sensors picked up odd readings out here. I checked the cameras and found you practicing those hand signs you've been using lately. I must admit I'm curious about that, mind shedding some light?" He asked genuinely interested.

Gaara was silent for several seconds. "It helps me to mold my... magic into a useful form." He felt ridiculous for having to refer to chakra in such a way. Even if he was lying to the old man he was still in a way telling the truth, the purpose of hand signs was to do just as he said, mold chakra for jutsu.

Ozpin nodded before walking over to the sitting red head. "Gaara, you don't trust me." He stated out of the blue, though if Gaara was surprised he didn't let it show.

"No, I don't." Gaara responded simply.

Ozpin smiled. "At least you're honest about it, when you spend as much time around politics as I do the false smiles and back stabbing really begins to grate on your nerves." Looking up at the moon Ozpin took another sip from his mug. "After everything you went through as a child I completely understand your mistrust. Even forgetting about your past I'd be hard pressed to ask you to trust me with how little you actually know about me."

Gaara never removed his eyes from the old professor as he spoke. "You want something from me." He did ask and instead said it as a statement.

Ozpin nodded. "Yes I do, but I won't force anything out of you. If you tell me something or do something for me I want it to be because you want to, not because I've manipulated you into it."

Gaara was silent again for almost a minute. "Why do you really want my power?" He asked the older man who sighed.

"Normally Gaara I'd give you a cryptic and vague answer that would likely only serve to annoy you." He chuckled before finally looking back to the sitting boy, his eyes not holding any amusement. "Telling you everything now would take far to long, but I will tell you very soon. But to make it quick... I'm desperate. Old, tired, and desperate. Fighting an enemy nonstop for your whole existence and not making any real progress... it's beyond exhausting. I've slowly been losing what little hope I had left for a long time, longer than you could imagine. Then I learned of you and your strength and power, I thought that with your help we could finally shift the scales in our favor. That's why I came to you."

Gaara stood up and rolled his neck a bit before looking at the professor. "I still don't trust you, I doubt I ever will. But I'm willing to keep an open mind. What do you want to know?"

Ozpin actually looked a bit surprised at this before smiling again and pulling out his scroll. "Right now the only thing I wish to know is this." He opened up a file and showed it to Gaara.

The redheads eyes widened significantly when he saw footage of Shukaku's chakra burning the grimm during initiation. "How did you-"

"We record every students initiation every year in order to get a good understanding of their abilities. There are dozens of camera all over the Emerald forest, we also use them to monitor grimm movements and possible intruders. As for why this interests me so much, well aside from it's affects on grimm, Qrow mentioned you using this once before when you first woke up and attack them seven years ago." Ozpin explained.

Gaara's mind was racing a million miles a minute as he tried to think up an excuse. _"Hey brat, I have an idea. Let's me talk to him."_

"What!?" He blurted out accidentally, surprising both himself and the Professor.

 _"He got you by the balls kid, talking to yourself isn't gonna help you. Now calm the fuck down and let me talk to the old bastard."_ Shukaku's voice was loud and serious. Gaara forced himself to take a breath.

 _"Why do you want to speak with him?"_ He finally asked the demon in his head.

 _"I gonna explain shit."_ The demon said simply earning a growl.

 _"Fine, how?"_ Was not happy with this.

 _"Simple, tell him to place his hand on your head, then both of you need to clear your minds."_ The beast explained.

Finally looking back to the old man Gaara let out another sigh. "Someone wants to talk to you."

 **Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and again I apologize for the wait. Leave me a review and let me know what you all think. Until next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I got sucked into a New Vegas hole again. I swear every time I play through that game I end up independent regardless of who I set out hoping to ally with. Let's do this.**

Gaara and the professor sat on the ground cross legged in front of one another. "Now close your eyes and place your hand on my head." Gaara instructed while following the directions of Shukaku. Nodding Ozpin did as he was told. "Alright now you have to clear your mind and drop any mental barriers you may have. There should no friction between our minds."

"Very well, I must admit I'm curious to see where this goes." Ozpin said before taking a deep breath. The pair remained silent for several minutes, then the landscape changed around them drastically. Feeling the shift Ozpin opened his eyes, to his surprise he was no longer sitting but standing in a massive desert with sand as far as the eyes could see. Large stones and boulders occasionally dotted the area and the sun sat in the middle of the sky baring down on him with scorching heat.

Looking down at himself his eyes widened with shock to see himself no longer wearing his suit, instead he now wore an old set of robes that he recognized all to well. It was what he was wearing the day he was cursed with his immortality.

"Now that is surprising, your almost as old as I am." A loud unfamiliar voice boomed from behind him.

Turning around Ozpin had to actively prevent himself from stumbling back in shock and fear. Standing behind Gaara was an absolutely massive creature that easily stood taller than Beacon tower. It's fur was the same color as the surrounding sand and blue markings dotted its body, behind it a giant tail swayed back and forth. "By the gods." He whispered.

Letting out a laughed that shook the ground beneath them the beast leaned forward, as far as the large chains he only just noticed which were connected to a rusted metal collar around the creatures neck would allow it, and looked more closely at him. "You're a shard, no that's not the right word." Shukaku hummed to himself. "You are the collective of hundreds of others, all subjugated and assimilated within yourself. How interesting, I've heard of techniques that would allow a soul to enter the body of another and force it into submission, but not assimilation. Such a thing would take a great deal of power, power that you don't have." Taking a large whiff of the old man Shukaku continued to look over the professor who now looked to be on high alert. "You're weak, I can feel it."

Ozpin would be lying if he said he wasn't panicking, this creature before him had only taken a short look at him and already knew more than almost anyone on Remnant, and he hadn't the slightest clue what it was. Tearing his eyes away from the beast he looked to Gaara who had so far remained silent. "Gaara... what... who is this?"

Gaara sighed. "This is Shukaku the Sand Spirit, or the One Tail. As well as the source of all my troubles in life."

Letting out another booming laugh Shukaku looked down at Gaara. "Brat without my power your father would've killed you and you'd never have found your Rose so I don't want to hear it." The beast said smiling before looking back to Ozpin. "You just look full of questions, ask away."

Ozpin continued to stare wide eyed up at the beast. "What are you?"

"Good question, long answer so get comfortable." The demon chuckled.

 **Elsewhere**

Yagura sighed as he entered the loud club, in his hand was an envelope filled with cash. Walking across the dance floor he was easily able to weave through all the dancing patrons without bumping into any. He ignored the several looks he got as he did so already knowing the reason, looking perpetually young had it's drawbacks. Though at the same time it came with several advantages, for one everyone always underestimated him making it extremely easy to defeat enemies in combat. Not that anyone ever gave him any trouble on Remnant, he was a former Kage with the power of the three tails backing him up, the odds of anyone being able to match him were beyond slim. Even a maidens power paled before that of a tailed beast and he had long since fully mastered the use of the three tails chakra.

Reaching the bar he hopped up on one of the stools. Nobody was currently working the bar so he decided to simply wait for an employee to notice him and walk over. Fortunately he didn't have to wait long. "Oh Mel, look at this cutie." He heard from behind him as a pair of girls, twins, sat down on either side of him.

"It's pretty late little boy, shouldn't you be getting home?" The girl in red said in a teasing tone.

Holding up the envelope Yagura decided to look at neither. "I've got a package Junior from Roman Torchwick, could you go get him for me?"

The pair took on a surprised look before nodding and walking away, several minutes later they returned following behind an extremely tall man. "So Roman is sending kids to run errands for him now, typical. What have you got for me squirt?"

Yagura took several deep breaths as he did his best to suppress the building rage, if he went on a rampage in the middle of downtown Vale he'd never hear the end of Cinder's nagging. Holding out the envelope Yagura managed to calm himself. "This is Roman's payment for the men he hired from you, he said, and I quote 'I would've been better off asking the cops if they'd be willing to help me commit that robbery' end quote." He deadpanned.

Junior growled as he took the envelope and stored it in his shirt pocket. "I'm gonna kill that bastard one of these days." Reaching into his pocket Junior pulled out a five lien card and handed it to the former Mizukage. "Here ya go kid, go get yourself something sweet."

And that was the final straw, an instant later every patron in the club was unconscious on the floor along with most of the guards. The twins feel to their knees, the one in red began vomiting while the one in white became petrified. Junior remained completely still aside from a wet spot that began moving down his leg.

Channeling a combination of his killing intent and the three tails chakra Yagura glared at the bar owner, he was slightly impressed the man hadn't had a heart attack and died right there. "My name is Yagura Karatachi, I am twenty seven years old, and if you call me a kid one more time I'll turn you inside out and feed you to the wrong end of an Ursa." With those words he stood and began walking towards the exit, the sensation of pure fear those in the club felt didn't stop until the front door shut behind him.

 **The next day**

Gaara leaned back in his seat as he watched the match taking place, his four roommates were each sitting around him, Yang was talking to Blake. Weiss was watching the current fight dutifully while also ignoring Ruby who was chattering about what they could do on the weekend. The two combatants were a pair of second years who he'd never met.

As of yet he'd yet to be called on to fight anyone which wasn't really much of an issue, back at Signal he wasn't a very popular choice as an opponent sense everyone already knew they wouldn't win, unless their names were Ruby or Yang, those two still hadn't given up on ending his winning streak. "That's the match!" Glynda called ending the battle.

She continued on to give advice to the pair, Gaara simply closed his eyes to try and get some rest. He completely exhausted, the meeting between him, Ozpin, and Shukaku had last several hours and had costed almost a quarter of his chakra maintaining the link. "Alright, who will fight next?" Glynda asked before pressing a button on her scroll that made the random selector begin rolling. "Jaune Arc against Gaara." Gaara only sighed, of course today would be the day he finally got picked to fight, at least it wouldn't last to long. He'd seen Jaune fight twice already in class and was less than impressed.

"Oooooooh, sucks to be you vomit boy." Yang laughed.

Standing Gaara was about to make his way to the locker room. _"Hey brat, fight this one on your own. Bare hands, no sand."_

Gaara stopped. "Why?" He asked under his breath to avoid anyone else hearing.

 _"Because your hand to hand, and shuriken throwing blows. You need to up your game or when someone finally makes it past that sand shield you'll be dead. Besides, if you can't even beat that guy without my power then you'll never be strong enough to protect your Rose."_ Shukaku cackled in his head.

Gaara growled but didn't respond knowing the demon tanuki was right. Continuing to the locker room he quickly changed and grabbed his kunai, he didn't actually own any shuriken but Shukaku had demanded he get some as well as an assortment of other 'ninja necessities' which he just last night asked Ozpin to order for him.

Walking back to the arena Gaara quickly noticed the raised eyebrows from Ruby and Yang, likely because of the lack of his usual gourd of sand. Jaune soon followed behind and climbed into the ring stumbling a bit as he did. "Both fighters get ready." Goodwitch called out, to which Jaune drew his sword and shield and dropped into a very sloppy stance, Gaara on the other hand simply held his hands out to his sides a bit. "Begin!"

 **Beacon Tower**

Ozpin took a deep breath, a fresh steaming mug of coffee in his hands, his shoes were on the floor and his feet were on his desk. A small speaker on his desk was playing his favorite song, _Dvorak Symphony No. 9 in E minor._ An incredible work that he fell in love with about two hundred years ago when it was first performed in Mistral by a Owl faunus from Mantel.

It was exceedingly rare that the headmaster took time to relax like he was now, however after last night and learning what he did from Shukaku he was in an extremely good mood. Not only did he now have a new force on his side that dwarfed the maidens in terms of raw power, but it was also something Salem would have no counter to, at least according to the beast who said he was the only one of his kind on Remnant.

There was a very good chance that Gaara and Shukaku could turn out to be the key to braking this stalemate once and for all and swing things in their favor. For the first time in a very very long time there was real, visible hope. It was for this that Ozpin decided to clear his schedule for the next three hours and just relax.

Tonight he'd promised to bring Gaara up to his office and explain everything about himself, the maidens, Salem, and even the relics. He knew it would prove to be a long and stressful talk, but for the moment he wouldn't let that bother him. Taking a sip from the steaming mug in his hands he hummed to himself. "Now that's good coffee."

 **So fun fact, I was actually listening to Dvorak Symphony No. 9 in E minor as I wrote this last bit. It's an awesome piece that some of you may recognize from Asura's Wrath in the fight with Augus or One Piece when Luffy defeats Crocodile. Anyway leave me a review and tell me what you all thing. Until next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So volume 6 is crazy so far. Let's begin.**

"What's he doing?" Yang leaned over towards her sister. "Where's his gourd?"

"I don't know, maybe he's trying something new." Ruby shrugged as Jaune climbed into the ring and Gaara did a few stretches.

"Or maybe he doesn't think Vomit Boy is worth it, kinda mean if that's true." Yang crossed her arms as the match began.

 **With Gaara**

Gaara dropped into a basic stance as Goodwitch announced the match, Jaune did the same only his stance was for more sloppy. Gaara knew very little about swordsmanship and even less about hand held shields, but even he could tell the blonde boy was holding his blade all wrong.

The two remained still for several seconds before Gaara launched himself forward, as he rapidly approached Jaune raised his blade and quickly brought it down in a straight line. The attack was horribly telegraphed and when compared to similar attacks from his uncles or Ozpin, it was almost like it was in slow motion. Side stepping Gaara took note that Jaune's shield was currently held down at his side, this left him wide open. Forming a fist and pouring some chakra into it Gaara threw as hard a punch as he could, the blow connected with the knights jaw causing him to stumble before swinging again at Gaara who now jumped back.

Looking up to the aura board Gaara frowned, his strongest punch had only taken six percent of the blondes Aura. A direct hit to the head from one of Yang's punches would have easily taken upwards of twenty percent, and that was without her gauntlets. _"What the hell was that? Don't you know how to throw a chakra infused punch?"_ Shukaku's voice echoed inside his head. _"You don't just pump chakra into the limb, all that does is reinforce your arm, it adds zero power to the blow. This time used the your chakra to speed up the attack while putting your body weight behind it, that will put more force behind the attack."_

Jumping back again Gaara gained as much distance as he could before stopping a taking a breath, closing his eyes he began concentrating. After several more seconds he reopened his eyes to see Jaune was sprinting towards him ready to attack. Reaching behind his back Gaara whipped out his kunai and blocked the swing from Jaune, he then pushed the blade to the side and stepped inside Jaune's guard. Letting out the breath he'd been holding Gaara buried his fist into the older boys stomach.

Jaune was sent to the ground on his back several feet away, quickly curling up and holding his stomach as Gaara remained standing with his fist out. He looked over his hand, he felt the difference with that punch, the impact was far more solid. Glancing up at the aura board his eyes widened, that punch had knocked nineteen percent off Jaune's bar. _"Rather sloppy but acceptable, thought with my chakra and more training I bet you could put your fist straight through his aura."_

 **With Ruby**

"Since when could Gaara throw a punch like that?" Yang asked with a wide smile on her face. "Actually, since when could Gaara throw a punch at all?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not sure, maybe he's been practicing with Professor Ozpin."

"What's so surprising, sure it was a strong blow but his technique was terrible. He left himself wide open for a counter attack." Weiss crossed her arms as she watched the match closely. Her partner had gone on and on about how strong a fighter the red head was and she wanted to see for herself. "Didn't you say he was some kind of prodigy? From what I've seen so far I doubt he could beat Cardin, let alone stand a chance against a full fledged huntsmen."

"Well to be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen him fight like this." Yang responded. "Normally he uses his semblance to control the sand in his gourd and uses it as both a shield and a weapon at the same time. He barely ever had to move at all, back at signal he was completely untouchable cuz nobody could get past his shield. Gaara fighting without his sand is like Ruby fighting without Crescent Rose or her semblance." She explained.

"Why would he give himself such a handicap?" Blake asked. "Is he trying to insult Jaune, like saying he's not worth it?"

Ruby shrugged. "No, Gaara's not like that. I think he's testing himself." Ruby answered without looking away from the match. "Still, he's doing really wel-" Ruby was cut off by a loud howl of pain from the ring as well as a large splash of red across the floor. "GAARA!" Ruby screamed before bolting toward the ring.

 **Seconds** **Earlier**

Gaara made several attempts to slash at the blonde with his kunai. His 'aura' bar was still sitting at one hundred percent, then again it wouldn't go down even if he took a hit. Remnant's sensors had always been incapable of detecting his chakra, back at Signal they'd simply stopped trying to find a way to detect it and just decided to have an instructor closely monitor his fights to make sure he wasn't injured. Though that had never occurred as no student had ever managed to land a hit on him.

Jaune's aura was a different story however, it was currently at thirty one percent. Running forward Gaara threw his kunai in an attempt to force Jaune to block with his shield, blinding himself in the process, and as he expected it worked. Jumping up into the air Gaara prepared to perform a drop kick on the knight, what happened next he would only be able to remember in flashes.

Looking up Jaune saw Gaara coming down at his, on instinct the blonde thrust his blade up at the falling redhead. Before Gaara could react the blade entered into his shoulder and he screamed in pain. "GAARA!" He recognized Ruby's voice.

"Everybody stand back, don't touch the blade!" This time it was Goodwitch's voice speaking.

Gaara attempted to lift himself up off the ground but his hand slipped on something wet and slippery. "Gaara don't try to move!" Ruby spoke again, this time far closer. "Oh my god there's so much blood." He could barely hear her whisper as the world grew darker and darker.

 **The Next Day**

Gaara groaned as consciousness slowly returned to him, his eyes cracked open, he was in a white room. "Where am I?" He asked in a whisper, several seconds went by with out an answer. "Shukaku?" He asked a little louder.

"Wow, awake already, I'm surprised." An unfamiliar voice spoke up from the entrance to the room, an older looking woman in a white doctors coat entered holding a clipboard. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm in a hospital?" He asked nobody specifically, he closed his eyes to try and remember what had happened. "I was fighting Jaune in class, I was stabbed."

"Yes, the blade went into your shoulder cracking your collar bone, but that was least serious wound you had. The blade cut open your subclavian artery, it's a good thing they didn't remove the blade or you'd have bled out before ever even reaching us. Still you did manage to lose almost two and a half pints of blood, you're lucky that girl in the cape had the same blood type as you because you required more than what we had in stock." She explained to the redhead.

"Ruby gave me blood?" He asked as he tried to putting everything together through the dizziness in his head.

"Yep, saved your life in the progress. Professor Ozpin wanted to be alerted the moment you woke up, I'll be back soon to run a few more tests." She said before exiting the room leaving Gaara alone again.

It wasn't ten minutes before Ozpin entered the room, and for the first time since he'd met the man, Ozpin looked furious. "What were you thinking?!" He shouted the moment he closed the door. "What could have possibly possessed you to enter the combat arena with no way of defending yourself?!"

Gaara was only surprised by the mans anger for a few moments before regaining his composure. "Shukaku suggested I do it in order to work on my hand to hand combat skills." He explained.

"You could have died Gaara!" Ozpin shouted again, this time Gaara noticed something odd about the man, he look more desperate than angry. Gaara didn't respond instead simply matching the older man's eyes with his own tired look. Ozpin sighed before falling back into one of the chairs beside Gaara's bed. "For the first time in centuries I was hopeful, I thought maybe peace was finally within reach. You were that hope, and then you nearly get yourself killed." Ozpin went silent once more before standing up. "Rest up, you have the week off." With that he opened up the door and left.

 **Hours Later**

Ruby tossed and turned in her bed, she couldn't sleep, not without hearing about Gaara. Looking around the room she could tell everyone else was asleep, even Yang who had been almost as worried as her when they first saw all the blood. This continued for over an hour before she got frustrated and threw her covers off of her and silently jumped down from her bunk.

Grabbing her slippers she opened her door and slipped out, her eyes paused on team JNPR's room for a moment. Jaune had been nearly hysterical as they were rushing Gaara to the hospital, it he was terrified that he might have killed someone by accident even after being reassured that it wasn't his fault. Yang hadn't helped when she nearly attacked her fellow blonde in a fit of rage, it had taken All of team RWBY as well as Pyrrha, Nora and Ren to hold her back. After a few hours though she had managed to calm herself down enough to talk to him.

Carefully watching for security Ruby made her way through the halls, being out of your dorm past curfew was an automatic three days detention with Professor Port, something she really wasn't interested in trying out. Within ten minutes she managed to make it to the entrance of the hospital on the other side of the school, it was nearly empty with the exception of a few orderly walking around and the occasional nurse, not very difficult to remain hidden from really.

Finding the right room was honestly the most difficult part, when she did find it she slipped in silently. With a frown she moved over to the side of Gaara's bed, it was odd seeing him asleep really. Ever since he'd joined their family he'd had severe insomnia and was always awake long before anyone else woke up, if he ever went to sleep at all that is.

"Hey Gaara." She whispered not really wanting to wake him up. She slowly reach up and grabbed his hand. "I know it's late, I really shouldn't even be here, but I wanted to make sure you were okay." She said knowing the really wasn't anyway he could hear her, she was use to it however. She'd often visit her mothers grave and talk to her for hours sometimes. Gaara would almost always go with her when she did, he said that he owed his life to her mother. It wasn't until she was around eleven that she'd learned that her Uncle Qrow had found him laying freezing cold and hurt on the grave stone. "I heard that you woke up earlier, I was happy, but I just wanted to see for myself how you were. You've got a bit more color back, makes sense, they took a lot of blood from me." She smiled.

Without really thinking she moved her hand up to brush some hair out of the sleeping boys face, after that she slowly traced the boys tattoo, her dad had been so mad when he'd gotten it, she thought it was so cool. Gaara turned his head in his sleep into her palm earning a small blush, closing her eyes she took a breath and relaxed in order to lessen the heat in her cheeks, then something she'd never forget for as long as she'd live happened.

When she reopened her eyes she was no longer in Gaara's hospital room, she now stood in the middle of what looked like an endless desert. From behind her came a loud a deep chuckle. "Now what do we have here?" Spinning on her heels she froze when she found herself looking up at the most massive and intimidating creature she'd ever seen. "So you're his little rose."

 **So I got a laptop for Christmas and I'm sure you all know what that means, I can now work on chapters on the go instead of always having to wait till I get home. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**So a lot of people were asking about Gaara's sand armor, based off what Kankuro said the armor requires an extremely large amount of chakra to keep in place. Gaara has only just started learning proper chakra control from Shukaku, at this point he has developed that technique yet. Remember that this Gaara had to learn through trial and error nearly his whole life without a teacher when it came to his chakra, he's nowhere near Shippuden level. If I were to place him somewhere I'd say he was closer to introduction Gaara in terms of strength. Let's get started.**

Ruby stood frozen in place as she stared up at the massive creature before her, her mouth hung open as sweat began to form across her body. "Gods." She whispered under her breath as the beast stared down at her with it's eyes which were alone larger than her entire body.

The beast chuckled shaking the ground around them. "I've seen you many times before in the brats memories, and even through his eyes, but seeing you here proves it. You are adorable." It laughed louder this time causing Ruby to cover her ears.

After a few seconds Ruby removed her hands from her ears and looked up at the monster. "Who... are you? Where am I?" She asked looking around her at the giant desert that stretched in all directions for as far as she could see.

"You are inside the brats mindscape, I felt your soul connect with his for just a moment and pulled you in. As for me, I am Shukaku the sand spirit." He explained leaning down a bit closer to the girl, as close as the chains would allow him at least.

Ruby looked around for a few more second before the demons words registered in her head. "Wait, I'm in Gaara's mind?!" She shouted in surprise. "That's impossible, people can't just enter other peoples minds."

"Don't believe me, then check this, were you wearing that when you decided to visit Gaara?" He asked causing Ruby to look down at her outfit, it was her usual combat skirt and hood. She'd been in her pajamas when she'd left her dorm room.

"If this is Gaara's mind... where is he?" She asked.

"At the moment he's dreaming in a separate part of his mind, I could pull him here if you'd like." Shukaku offered.

Ruby was about to say when a thought struck her, Gaara rarely ever slept and when he did he rarely dreamed. He'd explained to her once that the medication would put him to sleep but a side effect was that it prevented him from entering REM sleep, the only time he ever got to dream was on the rare occasions he naturally slept deeply enough to do so. "No, he doesn't get to dream often, I don't want to bother him." She shook her head. "But... can you tell me if he's having a good dream?"

Shukaku hummed to himself. "That's a bit of a subjective question, but I guess you could call it a neutral one. Neither good nor bad if I were to good by his emotions." The spirit explained. "Anyway I really just felt like meeting his precious Rose, I'll send you back now."

"Wha-" Ruby didn't get to finish her sentence as her eyes opened and she found herself standing next to the redheads bed. Looking down at herself she noted that she was back in her pajamas. "What just happened?" Looking up at the clock on the wall she noticed it was nearly morning. "Was that a dream?"

 **Three Days Later**

Gaara rolled his shoulder a couple times. "Are you certain you're recovered enough for this Gaara?" Ozpin asked standing across from Gaara in the staff restricted combat arena. Running a combat school was stressful and everyone needed a way to vent some steam, as most of the staff were hunters and seasoned warriors, one of the preferred way of releasing this stress was through combat. This was why the faculty of the school had a combat arena reserved specifically for them that students were banned from using.

This was also where Ozpin would spar with Gaara during schooling hours when the rest of the staff were busy. "Shukaku accelerated the healing process with his... magic." He'd never get use to referring to chakra as that, it just felt ridiculous. It also didn't help that the damned tanuki sealed inside him would start cackling every time he did. "I was healed yesterday but decided to rest a bit longer." He explained. Raising his arms he called all the sand from his gourd and made it begin swirling around him on the ground. "While I was in the hospital I managed to think up a few new techniques." He told the older man.

Ozpin cracked his neck. "I look forward to seeing them."

Gaara made the first move by sending his sand at the headmaster in the form of several tendrils, Ozpin began jumping backwards as the sand began slamming into the ground with enough force to send cracks through the tiles that made up the floor. Ozpin was about to repeat this and jump away again when the tile behind him cracked slightly, this gave him a heartbeat of warning before a new tendril burst out of the ground and towards the headmaster who slammed his cane into it with enough force to destroy it just long enough to put more distance between him and it. It wasn't until a few moments of peace that he looked to him redheaded apprentice who had a wide grin on his face, looking around he noticed why. The entire ring was surrounded by a wed like dome of sand.

"What is this?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"One of my new techniques." Gaara replied. "Ruby brought me a few comics to read when I asked her for some reading materials, of course I should've clarified that I wanted actual books but that's my fault for not asking Blake or Weiss instead. Still though, one of them gave me an idea. In one the main character, a pirate, was fighting another pirate who could control strings. He managed to take an entire country prisoner by creating what he called a 'bird cage' which gave me the idea for this." He said holding up his arms and slowly began bringing them towards himself.

As he did this the sand web began slowly moving inward tearing up the floor as it did so. Ozpin smiled as he inspected the technique. "An effective ability for cutting off an enemies escape, unfortunately there's a big difference between you and that manga villain." Raising his cane till it was pointing at Gaara, Ozpin launched himself at the redhead who brought up his sand to block but wasn't able to put as much chakra as he wanted into it. "You can't use it subconsciously."

Bringing his hands together Gaara jumped back as he tried to form hand signs, he was stopped however when his back hit his own sand web. Flipping through hand signs clumsily he spit out a small ball of air that Ozpin merely slapped away with his cane dispersing it. Before he could react further Ozpin brought the cane down directly on top of Gaara's head sending him to his knees, he then brought up his foot to deliver a powerful kick

As his heel was about to make impact however a wave of sand burst from the ground between them encasing the headmasters leg and lifted him into the air before bringing him back down with the intent to smash him into the floor. Frowning Ozpin focus his aura into his free leg and kicked the sand with as much force as he could muster, just as the sand was dispersing he pulled the handle of his staff forming a shield around him which absorbed the impact.

Standing back to his feet Ozpin noticed the 'bird cage' had fallen apart, Gaara was standing to but was holding his throat with a pained look. Ozpin laughed. "If I may make a recommendation, next time you want to copy a warlord, I'd recommend Crocodile over Doflamingo. I think it would fit you move set better."

 **Vale**

Yagura leaned back in his recliner as he watched about two dozen White Fang grunts run around in the warehouse below, each with one job or another. Cinder had asked him to supervise Roman's operations while she wasn't in Vale and he was doing exactly that, sure he knew that meant she wanted him to make sure everything went as she wanted it to but the way she worded it meant he didn't have to leave his chair.

When he'd woken up on Remnant years earlier he'd been pissed, he was the Mizukage and had a village that needed it's leader. Years later however he knew the Mist had likely chosen a new Mizukage, or it had been destroyed somehow. He had no way of learning which but either way it meant he was officially retired. Sure some would say that twenty seven was far to young to be retired but those people hadn't done or seen half the things he had. Regardless he was determined not to leave his chair unless absolutely needed, which to him meant unless Cinder herself asked nicely.

"Yagura." He heard a familiar voice call his name as he heard foot steps moving up metal stairs.

"What's up Ro?" He asked from his chair not even looking towards the crime boss.

"I just got word of a giant Schnee freighter that'll be coming into port in about a month, if we hit this we'll be set." Roman explained stopping several feet away and began leaning on the railing of the catwalk Yagura had set his chair up in.

"Sounds great, get it done." Yagura still hadn't even looked at the man.

"Yeah, see there's just one problem." This finally got Yagura to look at him with an annoyed expression, this was the part where someone asked him to do something. "We've been making so much chaos in the dust market that the SDC has wised up and decided to hire on some extra muscle."

Yagura closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "I fail to see how this is my problem."

"Come on, if we don't pull this score off then Cinder is gonna roast my balls. What do I gotta do to get you to help me out?" Roman sounded desperate.

Yagura hummed to himself for a moment. "I'm gonna need a seventy inch plasma wide screen TV."

Roman sighed. "Really."

"With WebFlix." Yagura added.

"And you'll help out if I do?" Roman asked.

"Yep." Yagura said with a smile.

Roman massaged his temples. "Fine, should it also have three D?"

"NO THAT'S A STUPID FUCKING GIMMICK AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT!"

 **Beacon Library**

"Wow, who'd have thought THE professor Ozpin would be a One Piece fan?" Yang said surprised as she leaned her head on her hand. She sat across from Gaara who was currently reading through a textbook, Blake sat next to her reading a book as well. Gaara noticed she'd glance up at him periodically but he'd grown use to that from faunus. Sitting at another table nearby was a miserable looking Ruby with Weiss sitting next to her explaining something to do with chemistry from a large book, she still took notes all the same however.

"Indeed, I had to look up who 'Crocodile' was. It seems like a strange choice to name a sand using pirate after a generally aquatic reptile." Gaara nodded turning the page of the book in his hands.

 _"Yeah but he's still a badass, I wish we could drain someone of all moister just by touching them!"_ Shukaku shouted inside of the teens mind, Blake shuddered slightly when he spoke. She did so whenever the beast spoke within him, he'd asked the tailed beast to stop but that didn't really help.

"You okay Blake, need a jacket?" Yang asked the girl you'd she'd noticed shudder likely mistaking it for a shiver.

Blake looked up from her book surprised, her eyes shooting to Gaara for only a moment. "Oh, uh no, I'm fine." She answered quickly looking back down at her own book earning a shrug from Yang.

"Hey guys!" The always cheerful voice of Nora called out quickly earning a shush from the librarian. "Hey guys." She repeated at a far lower volume as she and the rest of team JNPR all took a seat at the table next to them.

"Sup guys?" Yang waved.

"We decided to do a bit of studying for the quiz tomorrow." Pyrrha answered happily.

Gaara noticed Jaune staring down at the table. "Jaune." He said without looking up from his book, he heard the small squeak of apprehension from the blonde leader. He could also feel the attention from the rest of the group fall on them, including Weiss and Ruby. The two hadn't spoken since the incident and from what he'd been told by Ruby and Yang the boy had been extremely guilty over the whole thing. "I am to blame for my injury, I entered the ring without a way of defending myself." Gaara spoke clearly. "Stop worrying about it." He finally glanced up at the boy before quickly looking back to his book.

 **That seems as good a place as any to stop for now. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


	11. Chapter 11

**SO you guys are probably already aware of this, but I'm a huge MTG fan. My format of choice is EDH/Commander. Also to those who were worried this story will not be heavy on the references, I only really do stuff like that when I find myself stuck. Let's begin.**

"So how does this differ from the usual format, I've played that a few times." Jaune asked looking over the cards in his hand.

"It's actually pretty simple, in the General format you have a deck of one hundred cards instead of just forty five. Also you've got a General card that you always have access to." Yang answered placing a card on the table. "Other than that it's pretty much the same game, well aside from it being a four way free for all. You're using one of Gaara's decks so you should do fine."

"Yeah, just try not to bend them, Gaara hates it when people bend his cards." Ruby giggle placing a card in response.

"You two know how much I hate it when you talk like I'm not right next to you." He responded while activating several mana cards and moved his General onto his side of the field. "We should hurry this match along, class begins in twenty minutes." He said moving the card forward and attacking Yang.

"Hey Red, you going to combat class to day?" The group all turned to look at the source, Cardin walked over followed by his team. "If you do, try not to skewer yourself again. Last time I got blood on my boot from the puddle you left." The four boy laughed as they passed by.

"He's a jerk." Ruby said giving her best angry glare at the teens back.

"Ignore him, he's not worth it." Gaara shook his head while examining his cards.

"If you don't stand up to him at some point he'll never stop picking on you." Weiss spoke from her spot nearby at the lunch table along with the rest of their teams. "Hasn't he already taken to flicking paper balls at the back of your head in Port's class?"

"He also tries to trip you every time you walk passed him." Rin added. "Though admittedly he's failed every time."

"And don't forget when they put that wuppy cushion in your chair during Oobleck's class." Ruby spoke again.

Gaara shook his head. "Like I said, he's not worth it. Someone as weak as him is incapable of doing anything more than childish pranks." Tapping the rest of his mana Gaara set down another card immediately earning groans from both Ruby and Yang while Jaune just looked confused. "I win."

 **Later**

Gaara watched as Pyrrha and a second year student clashed before the red headed girl spun into her opponents guard and slammed the edge of her shield into his face sending him to the ground. "And that's the match." Glynda shouted before stepping into the arena. "Great match as always Ms. Nikos." She nodded to the girl before turning to the students present. "Now class, for this next match we will be having our first team battle of the year, will team CRDL and RWBY please enter the ring."

Before the others could stand Ruby shot to her feet. "Uh Ms. Goodwitch, Yang and I both have tummy aches and can't fight today. And it wouldn't be fair for Blake and Weiss to fight four strong boys by themselves. Would it be okay if Gaara fought in our place?" She asked pretending to be sick while glancing at her sister who was giving a thumbs up. Gaara who was sitting nearby just shook his head while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"All of us against that wimp, the princess and bookworm would put up a better fight." Cardin respond from the other side of the bleachers.

Standing to his feet Gaara nodded towards Goodwitch and began walking towards the locker room, a few minutes later he returned to the arena in his combat outfit and gourd on his back. _"Oh! Are we gonna kill these guy, please tell me we're gonna kill'em."_

"No, I will beat them and be done with it." Gaara muttered under his breath as team CRDL emerged with their gear as well.

 _"Come on please, we could make it look like an accident! Just use a bit more pressure than normal with the Sand Coffin, maybe do it at an angle that would snap their necks. We haven't killed anyone in so long."_ Shukaku pleaded inside the red heads mind which Gaara ignored.

"What's with the gourd red?" Cardin asked crossing his arms. "Doesn't really matter, you're still going down."

"Begin!"

 **That Night**

"Alright Gaara, you can come out now." Ruby said with a raised voice as she climbed up onto her bunk now clad in her pajamas.

The sand dome that surrounded the corner of the room that Gaara had claimed quickly crumbled away and reformed into his gourd which leaned against the wall next to the futon that laid on the floor. Gaara sat up on it typing away on his scroll before looking up at the rest of his team, each of which were also in their nightwear as well. He looked to Ruby who was in the process of unwrapping a candy bar.

"Ruby, you shouldn't eat candy with a stomach ache." He told the girl making her freeze before she began laughing nervously. "You know I didn't want to do that, so why make me?" His voice didn't hold any anger, only a small amount of annoyance.

Yang was the one to respond. "Oh come on Sandy, we were just trying to help. After how badly you beat their whole team they shouldn't be bothering you anytime soon." She said dropping down onto his bed next to him and pulling him against her causing a look of further annoyance to form on his face.

"Yang, please get off of me." He said letting out a sigh as she pressed her chest against the side of her head, Ruby was watching with narrowed eyes all the while.

"Oh come on, cant big sis Yang hug her cute little brother. Remember all the nights you and Ruby would crawl into bed with me after having nightmares." She laughed squeezing him tighter. "Besides, most boys would kill to be in this position."

"We were seven and we both know I don't see you like that." Gaara said untangling himself and standing to his feet. "I'm going to get some water." He said walking towards the door. Once he exited out into the hall he let out a tired breath. He began walking towards the dorm lounge while pushing everything from his mind. He loved Yang and would kill for her, she was apart of his family, his big sister. Still he couldn't deny the fact that he was indeed a warm blooded male and she was an incredibly attractive girl. He was telling the truth when he said he didn't see her that way, he saw her as his protective big sister and he knew she was only teasing him but when she teased him like that even he got uncomfortable. Despite how cool he managed to maintain his appearance it actually took a lot of effort to suppress his blush when she did that.

The same thing went for Ruby as well though she didn't tease him like Yang did, she was far more innocent. Yang had played little pranks on him plenty of times by hugging him so his face was in her chest, 'accidentally' dropping her towel after getting out of the shower, sitting on his lap. Ruby never did that type of thing, still though she had her own way of getting under his skin. She would hug him, grab his hand, lean on him. It drove him crazy in a completely different way. All of this only started along with that horrid thing puberty, something Uncle Tai had force him to talk about on one of their fishing trips. It was when he began telling the boy about how he'd start seeing girls differently. Taiyang had also drilled into his head how to be a gentlemen and how to treat them.

He always knew he loved Ruby and Yang, they were his family, they gave him a reason to live. It wasn't until around eleven that he began seeing Ruby in particular as more than just his sister and best friend. He knew he was in love with her, love in a way much different from how he felt about Yang and Uncle Tai. Regardless he would never act on those feelings, she was his best friend and he would never do anything to endanger their relationship. No instead he'd remain by her side and protect her with his life, he'd do everything he could to make sure she was safe and happy.

Entering the lounge he walked over to a vending machine and held up his scroll to it and buying some juice. Taking the juice he took a few gulps.

That still didn't make living with four beautiful girls any easier.

 **One Week Later**

Gaara took a deep breath of the forest air, the Everfall was always a beautiful place to him. In his hand he held a full jar of sap, he laid back and enjoyed the tranquility of the forest. He didn't need to meet back up with the rest of the group for another hour and a half so he planned on enjoying his free time alone

Pulling out his scroll he placed his earphones in his ears. If anything hostile came around his sand would react and warn him, if that wasn't enough he was sure Shukaku would warn him. Playing one of his favorite songs, As We Fall, he closed his eyes and allow himself to begin drifting away into a state of complete relaxation. He remained that way for nearly thirty minutes before his eyes shot open.

His sand moved on it's own and blocked an attack from his right, he jumped to his feet and prepared to respond but no further attacks came. Looking at his sand he examined what it had blocked, it was a now broken jar of sap. He the heard the sound of buzzing, he didn't even need to look up to be able to tell it was Rapier Wasps.

With a swift movement of his hand a wave of sand shot towards the insects and quickly surrounded them, clenching his fist the wasps were crushed completely.

Gaara looked in the direction he believed it had been thrown from, he didn't see anyone but he could here the sounds of people running away. With a sigh Gaara began walking in that direction, he had an idea of who was responsible. Normally he'd let this kind of thing go, but the rapier wasps were a step to far. Ruby was allergic to the venom they carried and had she been with him and been stung it could've been very bad.

"I was willing to let them have their fun with me." He spoke.

 _"Now can we kill them?"_ Shukaku asked from within his mind.

"There student's of Beacon, Ozpin would be very angry." Gaara responded.

 _"I'm not hearing a no."_ Shukaku said cackling happily.

"We'll see." Gaara growled as he continued walking.

 **Sorry for the short chapter but I wrote this all in one sitting which is very rare for me. With my new job I only ever have time to work on the weekends so my updating has been far slower I know but I hope you will all bare with me. Leave me a review and tell me what you all think. Until next time.**


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